How much say you had in your beliefs growing up

Whether the beliefs you grew up with were simply expected, or something you were free to question, explore and choose for yourself — the room you were given as a child to form your own view of faith and meaning. This dimension is separate from which faith you were raised in or how religious your home was: a devout household can be strict about doubt or wholly open to it, so two people raised with the same intensity of faith can sit at opposite ends here.

A reflective self-description of how much freedom you were given to question and choose your own beliefs as a child — separate from which faith you were raised in or how religious your home was. It is grounded in research on parental authority and autonomy-granting (Baumrind, 1971) and on religious socialisation (Martin, White & Perlman, 2003), but it is a personal recollection rather than a validated test, so it is marked a popular self-identification, not a measured trait. (Martin, White & Perlman, Religious Socialization (Journal of Adolescent Research, 2003))

Groups

Expected, not questioned — The beliefs of your home — religious or secular — were simply expected, and openly questioning them was not really on the table.
Guided, with little room to differ — You were firmly brought up in your family's beliefs; some questions were tolerated, but you were expected to arrive at the same answers.
Free to question — You were raised in a tradition yet genuinely free to ask hard questions, voice doubts and disagree.
Free to explore — Your family encouraged you to learn about other beliefs and worldviews and to decide for yourself what made sense.
Left entirely to you — Faith and meaning were treated as a private, personal matter from early on, with little steering in any direction.

How much say you had in your beliefs growing up

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