Students' levels of a frequently studied adaptive schema (optimism) as a function of parenting variables (parental authority, family intrusiveness, parental overprotection, parentification, parental psychological control, and parental nurturance) were investigated. Results revealed that positive parenting styles were positively related to the presence of optimism, whereas negative parenting styles were inversely related to the presence of optimism. In addition, the examined parenting variables explained nearly 50% of the variance in students' optimism. (Contains 1 table) [This research was supported by University of St. Thomas Young Scholar's Research Grant, Summer 2007.]