Abstract
In research efforts to account for the variance in parent-child interactions, two variables have been cited repeatedly for their explanatory cogency--nurturance and authority. This study was conducted to examine the relation of parents' Hostility (Ho) scores from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-based Cook and Medley Hostility Scale to older adolescents' phenomenological assessments of their parents' nurturance and authority and the relation of scores to the adolescents' self-esteem. College students (N=85) completed six questionnaires: a global self-esteem scale, a mother's nurturance scale, a father's nurturance scale, a mother's authority questionnaire, a father's authority questionnaire, and a demographic information sheet. Mothers and fathers of the students completed the Hostility Scale. Several inverse relationships were found between Ho scores and adolescent self-esteem and adolescent perception of their parental nurturance and authority. The magnitude of these effects was consistently greater for fathers' Ho than for mothers' Ho, adding support to the hypothesis that the behavioral and emotional consequences of Ho are different for men and women. (NB)