PSYCHOMETRIC TESTING OF THE ADOLESCENT VERSION OF THE COOK?MEDLEY HOSTILITY SCALE

Hostility, a phenomenon that has been linked to cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality, is often measured by the Cook-Medley hostility (Ho) scale. Although there is an adolescent version of the Ho scale, it has had little testing with only AngloAmerican samples. This pilot study tested the reliability and validity of the adolescent version of the Ho scale with a multiethnic sample of adolescents. Sixty adolescents participated. Reliability was measured using Chronbach's alpha. The Ho scale was correlated with the Speilberger State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (1988) scales to determine concurrent validity. A factor analysis assessed construct validity; content validity was assessed by analyzing tape-recorded descriptions of a circumstance that provoked anger, as remembered by each adolescent. Internal consistency reliability was .75. The hostility measure was most highly correlated with anger expression (r = .62, p = .000) and trait anger (r = .50, p = .000). The factor analysis generated thre...