Personally, I grew up in a more traditional family. My mother has three children from a previous marriage, all much older than me. I had both parents in my family and my brothers for a few years until they moved away. Although we had a stepfamily dynamic, I believe my family looks a lot like the standard nuclear family because my father stepped up to parent my siblings. As a result, I think I've had a very smooth and easy transition into adulthood. There were no circumstances that made me feel like I needed to mature at an abnormally fast rate. I think one of the strengths of my upbringing was that I learned to trust others, while my friend learned to value herself more than others. I started building strong relationships with my peers and she kept them at a distance. It's only recently that he's really started to let others in. Otherwise, I think we have very similar beliefs and values. We both understand the importance of being competent adults and fulfilling responsibilities, but how we get to the end goal is different for each of us.