Studied the relationships among academic achievement, learned helplessness, and psychological adjustment (self-esteem and depression), controlled for gender and age, for 1,580 students with data collected in grades 3 and 4, 6 and 7, and 8 and 9. Results show that academic achievement is directly and indirectly related to the pattern of…

Examined relationship of helplessness exhibited in 112 kindergarten children's responses to a challenging, developmentally appropriate task with depression and negative self-worth 5 years later. Found that helplessness in kindergarten predicted more depressive symptoms, as reported by children and their teachers, and more negative feelings of…

This report describes the outcomes of a one-year federally funded pilot study of 14 students with low vision or blindness (grades 3-6) and 13 teachers. The study was designed to generate practical classroom assessment procedures for measuring "learned helplessness" and recommendations for a conceptual intervention model for use in the classroom.…

This 2-year study examined the relative potency of locus of control (LOC) and motivational orientation (MO) as predictors of standardized achievement scores and learned helplessness. Also tested was the prediction that children with an extrinsic MO would be prone to adopt an external LOC over time. In the first year of the study, subjects were 158…

Both cognitive and learned helplessness models of depression stress the importance of low self-esteem in the etiology of depression and depressive symptomatology. To investigate the correlations and causal relationship of low self-esteem to depressive cognition, equal groups of low, medium, and high self-esteem college students (N=135; 89 female,…

The major task of life is to become masterful. As individuals grow the choice of which tasks to attempt and how best to achieve mastery at them becomes increasingly under their control by the situations they choose to engage in and by perceptions of their abilities. Mastery oriented people tend to attribute failure to unstable, external factors…

Learned helplessness often precedes depression. The elderly are more likely than the general population to be faced with uncontrollable events which may bring on learned helplessness. Intervention by gerontological counselors has been useful in reducing effects of helplessness. With pseudohelplessness, persons act helpless in order to control…

In 1976, suicides in the 15-24 year-old group (N=4,747) made up over 17% of all suicides in all age groups (N=26,750). In 1968, adolescent suicides (N=2,591) were only 12% of the total (N=21,000). Adolescent suicide rate is alarming unless put into perspective with the accident rate and the cultural belief in individual rights, responsibility, and…

Notes that many practitioners underestimate the occurrence of childhood depression and explains what childhood depression is, what symptoms most often indicate it, why it occurs, and what teachers can do to help depressed children. (JC)

This experiment explored the mediating functions of attributional and self-efficacy variables on achievement outcomes for skill training treatments offered in conjunction with attributional feedback. Children who were identified as learned helpless and deficient in division skills received training on division operations either through modeling…

Discusses problems of work force quality in the United States in the 1990s, strategies for managerial response to these problems, and sources of employee resistance to change. Notes that business and industry may be forced to hire minorities and women with orientations to self and work different from those held by white middle-class men.…

Students with emotional or behavioral disorders (E/BD) are characterized by academic deficits and classroom behavioral problems. The relationship between problem behavior and academic difficulties is complex, and some researchers have hypothesized that the classroom behavior problems of students with E/BD are responses to aversive stimuli, namely…

This report discusses a study of 31 postsecondary students (20 males and 11 females) with learning disabilities (LD) and/or with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) that examined college achievement and attributional styles. Students completed a combined Academic Attributional Style and Coping with Academic Failures Questionnaire.…

This experiment investigated: (1) relationships among locus of control, attributional style, and depression; (2) if a depressogenic attributional style could be empirically isolated; and (3) if reliable relationships existed between attribution and depression when depression was operationalized using different instruments. Subjects completed the…

Recent research on domestic violence has sought to provide insight into the psychological consequences of such violence. A conceptual framework, which suggests that both situational and person-centered factors contribute to adjustment to violence and affect a woman's personal and social resources, was formulated to examine the impact of stress,…