The effect of socioeconomic status (SES) and the presence of a child with spina bifida on democratic parenting styles was investigated. Fifty-five families with children (8 or 9 years old) who have spina bifida were matched to 55 families with able-bodied children. Families in both groups were split into high and low SES subgroups (Hollingshead, 1975). These families, consisting of mother, father (when available), and child, took part in completing a videotaped “game” task in their home during the course of a longer interview. The game task was videotaped and coded, and 14 reliable codes (representing 6 code types) of democratic parenting were derived. A series of 2 X 2 analyses of variance revealed significant differences for 4 of the 14 macro-coded measures. Consistent with the hypotheses and prior research, the high SES groups scored higher on the democratic parenting variables than the low SES groups, and the spina bifida group scored higher on authoritarian parental control than the control group. Moreover, significant social class by group interactions revealed the low SES spina bifida group scored lower than the other three groups on measures of democratic parenting.