Learned Helplessness and Psychological Adjustment: Effects of age, gender and academic achievement

Abstract

The present study deals with relations between academic achievement, learned helplessness and psychological adjustment (self-esteem and depression), controlled for gender and age. A preliminary study was conducted to test the direction of the relationship between learned helplessness, assessed by the teacher, and own expectation about academic achievement. The sample consisted of 1580 students with data collected in grades 3 and 4, 6 and 7 and 8 and 9. The relation between these two variables was reciprocal, with the strongest effect between helplessness and expectations. Hypotheses concerning the relations between achievement, helplessness and psychological adjustment were tested by means of a cross-sectional sample consisting of 1575 students in grades 4, 7 and 9. The analyses of structural equation models showed that academic achievement was directly and indirectly related to the pattern of attributions, expectations, helplessness and psychological adjustment. Moreover, helplessness and academic expectations were significantly related to psychological adjustment. The results also clearly found that boys showed more helpless behaviour, as assessed by the teacher, than did girls, while, on the other hand, girls reported more psychological maladjustment. Some practical implications of the findings are reported at the end of the paper.