A study examined age and sex differences in engagement style and locus of control and their influence on African-American parent-adolescent relationships. The study subjects were 71 students in 9th grade and 57 students in 11th grade from 4 high schools in a large midwestern city; 46 college freshmen attending a large midwestern university; and 46 sets of parents across the 3 age levels. Most of the participants (96%) were African-American, 3% were Hispanic; and 1% were White. Study findings included the following: (1) male students were significantly more externally controlled than female students; (2) with respect to engagement style, on a continuum between patient and agent, females' scores were significantly more "agent" than males; (3) college freshmen were more "agent" than 9th graders and were significantly more externally controlled than 11th graders; (4) college freshmen rated their mothers as more authoritative than did 11th graders; (5) college freshmen females scored higher than 9th grade females on expressiveness; (6) college freshmen scored lower than 9th graders on perceived control in their families; (7) males rated their fathers as more authoritative than did females; (8) females rated their families as higher on conflict than did males; and (9) responses from mothers and adolescents were significantly correlated on 7 of the 10 subscales, while responses from fathers and adolescents were significantly correlated on only 1 subscale. (AC)