Investigations of the reformulated learned helplessness model of depression have produced conflicting results. To contrast the attributional responses of clinically depressed men and women, data were collected from 117 psychotherapy clinic outpatients. An expanded version of the Attribution Style Questionnaire was administered. Forty people…

A study involving 30 learning disabled and 30 normally achieving grade four girls suggested that helplessness effects may be stronger for learning disabled than for normally achieving children. Comparison to an earlier study with grade four boys suggested the possibility of sex differences regarding effectiveness of helplessness alleviation…

Two experiments show that performance impairment after failure can occur in different ways, depending on the goals, values, self-perception, sex, presence of an observer, and other attributional tendencies of the individual responding to that failure. (JAZ)

Peer and adult evaluators were used to examine sex differences in responses of 108 fifth graders to failure feedback. Performance in boys improved with feedback from adult agents but did not change with peer feedback. Performance in girls improved with peer feedback but showed little improvement with adult feedback. (GO)

Learned helplessness is a variable which has commonly been considered in research on sex-related differences in mathematics achievement. In this study, learned helplessness has been defined in terms of a debilitating or facilitating response resulting from failure on mathematical word problems. The construct has been called Performance Following…

An analysis of three issues concerning the possibility that sex differences in causal attributional patterns may be important mediators of sex differences in persistence in one's mathematics education are addressed. These issues include: (1) the exact nature of the sex differences in attributional patterns for school achievement and the…

The range of problems associated with learned helplessness in mathematics is introduced through three hypothetical case studies. Then the basic theory of, the evidence for, and variables affecting learned helplessness are described. Issues of cure and prevention are discussed, and some suggestions are offered for teachers. (MNS)

The application of learned helplessness theory to achievement is discussed within the context of implications for research in learning disabilities. Finally, the similarities between helpless children and learning disabled students in terms of problems solving and attention are discussed. (Author)

Study looked to determine the strength of the relationship between smoking, depression, intention to smoke, and several psychosocial and environmental factors. Participants completed the Multiscore Depression Inventory (MDI) and items regarding smoking behavior. Analyses found that participants were more likely to smoke if parents smoked, if…

Assessed helplessness behaviors in five- to seven-year-old children of mothers with and without depression. Found that, although mothers with depression set a more negative affective tone than mothers without depression during mother-child puzzle tasks, there were few significant differences between the two groups of mothers and children. (MDM)

This study examined the response of intermediate-grade boys (N=18) and girls (N=20) with (N=20) or without (N=18) learning disabilities (LD) to experimental dyadic interactions, either friendly or unfriendly. Children with LD were hypersensitive to both situations and girls with LD appeared most negatively affected by the unfriendly interaction.…

Compared high-school students differing in achievement motivation in a learned helplessness experiment. A strong helplessness effect was observed in both high- and low-achievement motivation groups. Results show a strong learned helplessness effect unrelated to individual differences in achievement motivation and refute claims that helplessness…

Examined relationships among sex roles, sex, and learned helplessness. Students were given unsolvable concept-formation problems or solvable concept-formation problems. Feminine-sex-typed and masculine-sex-typed students showed cognitive and motivational deficits as well as dysphoric mood in helpless conditions. Helpless androgynous students…

Females reported higher levels of depression and anxiety. Both males and females with more liberal scores on the Attitudes Toward Women Scale scored higher on the Well-Being Scale. (Author)

This study investigated the reformulated theory of learned helplessness, centering around attributional style in the cause of cognitive and emotional deficits. Subjects (N=58) were undergraduate and graduate psychology students at the University of Alabama at Huntsville. Subjects were divided into an experimental group (N=30) who received…