Background: Young people with intellectual disabilities seem to be at increased risk of developing mental health problems. The present study set out to examine the impact such difficulties can have on parents. Method: Semi-structured in-depth interviews were carried out with 13 parents and one adult sibling of 11 young people with intellectual…

This research examined the role of mothers' cognitions about children's self-control in their responses to children's helplessness. Mothers and their four-year-old children (N = 109) were asked to work on a difficult task in the laboratory. Mothers' hostility and warmth as well as children's helpless (vs. mastery) behavior were coded every minute.…

Background: Little research has examined interactions between self-reported dispositional and experimentally manipulated situational group orientations in their effect on self-regulation. Aims: The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of dispositional and situational learning goal orientation on children's self-efficacy and engagement…

Parents of children with developmental delays consistently report higher levels of child behavior problems and also parenting stress than parents of typically developing children. This study examined how mothers' positive beliefs influence the relation between children's behavior problems and mothers' parenting stress among families of children…

Visual impaired adolescents have mixed emotions, that is feelings of helplessness, confusion, disbelief, powerlessness, fear, shamefulness and anxiety. They generally consider themselves as inferior beings. They are beset by predominantly negative images and view themselves as either a source of trouble or in trouble. In bringing this view, one of…

Optimal therapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) follows logically from an understanding of etiological models describing the development and maintenance of the disorder. Accordingly, the present article provides a brief overview of PTSD with particular attention paid to etiology. Exposure-based interventions have consistently been shown…

The purpose of this investigation was to examine overweight students' perceptions of and experiences in physical education. Specifically, the applicability of learned helplessness as a framework to understand their experiences was explored. Participants were seven female and five male high school students whose body mass index was at or higher…

There are students in school who have experienced trauma. Generally traumatic events evoke feelings of extreme fear and helplessness. Reactions to traumatic events are determined by the subjective experience of the adolescent, which could be impacted by developmental and cultural factors. What is extremely traumatic for one student may be less so…

In this article I will discuss the impact of my 2-year-old son's diagnosis and treatment of leukaemia. I will outline the background to being told he had leukaemia before describing the family dynamics that emerged during this time for me, my husband and our other child. My story will focus on managing the practicalities of a long stay in hospital…

Nonviolent resistance (NVR) is a new training model aimed at helping parents deal effectively with their helplessness, isolation, and escalatory interactions with their children. The purpose of this study is to evaluate training in NVR with the parents of children with acute behavior problems. Seventy-three parents (41 families) were randomly…

The present study focuses on motivational constructs and their effect on students' academic achievement within an existing statistics course. First-year Health Sciences students completed a questionnaire that measures several motivational constructs: dimensions of causal attributions, outcome expectancy, affect, and study behaviour, all with…

This study set out to identify the kinds of achievement orientations that adolescents show, and to examine the kinds of antecedents and consequences the use of a particular orientation has. The participants were 734 Swedish adolescents (335 boys and 399 girls) who filled in questionnaires measuring their achievement beliefs and behaviors,…

Discusses the phenomenon of false fire alarms, the deliberate, intentional false reporting of fires, by mentally troubled persons as a primitive kind of help-seeking behavior. Several common themes found by reviewing false alarm cases are presented. Suggests that identifying the intrapsychic dynamics of false alarm reporters could be useful in…

Research suggests that motivation of autistic children can be increased and that this may be a crucial variable in the acquisition, generalization, and maintenance of their treatment gains. Discussion focuses on effects of failure on motivation, learned helplessness, shared control and increased success, and strategies for increasing exposure to…

This article is about the feelings of powerlessness that professionals feel to cure learning disability and to answer questions such as "why do I have a learning disability?". We describe how Emma showed us through role play what it was like to have learning difficulties. This article is interesting to people with learning disabilities because…