OE


To fill in the first blank, we need a word that describes the kind of obedience that all parents expect. You should be able to rule out scrupulous easily; not all parents expect minutely careful or exact obedience, and in any case, it makes no sense to speak of degrees of exact obedience. Reciprocal (corresponding or given or felt by each toward the other, mutual) makes even less sense, as it implies that all parents expect to obey their children, at least in some circumstances. The correct answer is filial, which simply means of, pertaining to, or befitting a son or daughter.
To fill in the second blank, think about what kind of parenting doesn't give children a chance to exercise their own judgment - presumably, one where the parents make all of the decisions. Clearly intransigence towards (inflexibility towards) will not work, because it implies that the children are doing whatever they want, regardless of their parents' orders. Propensity for (natural tendency toward is also a bad choice. To begin with, we do not normally speak of absolute propensities - it is somewhat like saying absolute leanings. In any case, the phrase propensity for parental authority is awkward and unclear; does it imply, for example, that the parents are naturally skilled at giving orders? If you cannot make sense of a sentence once you have tried out a word, that word is almost certainly incorrect. The best answer is deference to (respectful submission or yielding to).
Finally, we need a word to describe the sense of self possessed by children who grow up in authoritarian households. If they have low self-esteem and are not used to making decisions for themselves, it is a fair bet that they probably do not have a good grasp of who they are or what they want. Mercurial (volatile or animated) is not a completely implausible answer, given that it implies a somewhat unstable sense of self, but its connotations are too positive for this context; the author clearly disapproves of this parenting style and feels it has negative consequences. On the other hand, dissolute (indifferent to moral restraints or licentious) is too judgmental; the author obviously does not regard these children as in any way immoral. You are left with tenuous (thin or weak), which is the correct answer.