Re: Cara Drew
1. Well her dad wasn't around (that...doesn't actually bother her, she feels maybe it should given how much it bothers other people but...she doesn't feel like she missed out on too much) so that's him. Jessica really encouraged her achievements, and in part that made Cara, who was already a really accomplishment-driven person, even more dependent on hitting achievement milestones. It's like instant accomplishment and approval. So I'd say it's probably that Jessica didn't really encourage Cara to do the laid back thing more and be okay with it, maybe because Cal was so opposite in that sense.
2. Jessica I think taught Cara independence and doing things to make yourself happy and feel accomplished/satisfied. Essentially that you can be happy and fulfilled by yourself, you don't need a man or woman or whoever else to give you that. Cara doesn't do things, with regards to herself, for other people. She doesn't make life decisions based on others. She's that kid who watches those teen movies and goes 'why would she give that up for a guy?'. There are some downsides to that attitude too, but Cara is generally very self-driven in a good way.