Comparison of Learned Helplessness Cognitions and Behavior in Children With High and Low Scores on the Children's Depression Inventory

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Abstract
We examined the relationship between depressive symptoms and the cognitive and behavioral deficits associated with learned helplessness in 50 elementary school children using self-report, parent report, and behavioral data. We compared children with high and low scores on the Children's Depression Inventory on attributional style, locus of control, social desirability responding, the Child Behavior Checklist, intelligence, demographic characteristics, academic achievement, and learned helplessness behaviors. Results supported previous findings that children with depressive symptoms demonstrate an attributional style similar to that of depressed adults. They were found to attribute bad outcomes to internal, stable, and global factors and good outcomes to external, unstable, and specific factors. We did not find children with depressive symptoms to display significantly more helpless behavior than nondepressed children. However, problems in the behavioral measure of learned helplessness were evident. Therapeutic and research implications are discussed.

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