Learned helplessness, test anxiety, and academic achievement: a longitudinal analysis.

The stability of individual differences in test anxiety and learned helplessness over a 2-year period and their relation to concurrent and future school achievement were examined. Several issues regarding the assessment of learned helplessness are also addressed. 82 children were administered measures of test anxiety and helplessness in the third grade and again in the fifth grade. Teachers also provided reports of learned helpless and mastery-oriented behaviors at these 2 grade levels. It was found that: (a) both self-report and teacher-report measures of helplessness were stable over the 2-year period; (b) helplessness in the third grade was related to achievement test scores in the fifth grade; and (c) teacher reports may be a viable means of identifying helplessness. These findings are discussed in terms of cognitive developmental changes in children's understanding of effort and ability, and their implications for the assessment of learned helplessness are outlined.

Attributional style and learned helplessness: relationship to the use of causal schemata and depressive symptoms in children.

The attributional style associated with learned helplessness in children is examined in terms of its stability over a six-month period; impact on causal schemata used by children; and association with depressive symptoms. Seventy-three fifth grade children provided attributions for success and failure and were divided into learned helpless and mastery-oriented groups on the basis of the attributions typically associated with these response patterns. The attributional styles were relatively stable, influenced responses to stimuli used to investigate the use of causal schemata and were related to depressive symptoms. These results are discussed in terms of research on learned helplessness in children and several research questions are identified.