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

Bodiford, Cheryl A.; Eisenstadt, Toni Hembree; Johnson, James H.; Bradlyn, Andrew S.

doi:10.1207/s15374424jccp1702_7

Cited by 33 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Preliminary hypotheses related to age and gender effects. Because there is little consistent support for age-related differences for children between ages 12-15 in either humor, coping [34], defense [40,42], depressive symptoms [51], or adjustment [48], we hypothesized that we would not find age effects when the age range was limited to 12-15. Based on the literature related to gender differences, we hypothesized that adolescent girls would employ more approach coping methods whereas adolescent boys would endorse more avoidance coping methods and more aggressive and self-defeating humor.…”

Section: Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Adolescent Humor and its Relationship to Coping, Defense Strategies, Psychological Distress, and Well-Being

Erickson

Feldstein

2006

Child Psychiatry Hum Dev

111

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Section: Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Adolescent Humor and its Relationship to Coping, Defense Strategies, Psychological Distress, and Well-Being

Erickson

Feldstein

2006

Child Psychiatry Hum Dev

111

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“…Rather, the cause or attribution that the person makes predicts the reoccurrence of the expectation, and the expectation in turn determines the occurrence of the helplessness deficits (Abramson, Garber, & Seligman, 1980). The reformulated learned helplessness theory has been supported in research studies with children in general elementary and secondary education classes, children with chronic health conditions, and children and youth in psychiatric settings (e.g., Bodiford, Eisenstadt, Johnson, & Bradlyn, 1988;Curry & Craighead, 1990;Rodriguez & Pehi, 1998;Schoenherr, Brown, Baldwin, & Kaslow, 1992).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Attributional Style and Depression in Adolescents with Asperger Syndrome

Barnhill

Myles

2001

Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions

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Despite research indicating that adolescents with Asperger syndrome are prone to depression, there is no research investigating the attributions of these individuals and the possibility of a learned helplessness attributional style that may predispose these persons to depression or to maintain depressive symptoms. This study investigated the relationship between level of depressive symptoms and general attributional or explanatory style in 33 adolescents with Asperger syndrome. Support was found for the reformulated theory of learned helplessness in adolescents with Asperger syndrome. The more depressive symptoms the adolescents reported, the more the adolescents explained negative events by internal, stable, and global causes. One third of the participants obtained scores on the Children's Attributional Style Questionnaire composite for positive events that are considered to be suggestive of a very pessimistic, failure-prone style. However, only 9% of the participants rated themselves as having substantially more depressive symptoms than peers on the Children's Depression Inventory. Given that 70% of the participants were taking medication for depression, these findings may suggest that the medication controlled depressive symptoms but did not affect the maladaptive attributional style. Findings of the study are discussed relative to implications for practitioners in designing positive behavior interventions.

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“…Children are instructed to choose the alternative that describes best why the event in question happened to them. On this scale, depressed children are found to make more internal, stable and global attributions for negative outcome situations (Bodiford et al, 1988;Kaslow, Rehm 8c Siegel, 1984). Fielstein etal (1985) also developed an Attributional Style Questionnaire.…”

Section: Assessm£nt Of Cognitive Products (Eg Thoughts and Images)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive Therapy with Children and Adolescents: From Theory to Practice

Spence

1994

Child Psychology Psychiatry

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Cognitive therapies are now well established as a component for the treatment of a wide range of child behaviour problems. There is a great deal of evidence to suggest that deficits and distortions in cognitive processes play a role in disorders of affect and behaviour in children and adults alike. This has led to the development of many different cognitive therapy approaches which aim to influence cognitive products, structures and operations. Cognitive assessment methods continue to lag behind the developments in therapy, and there is a marked need for the development of reliable and valid measures. Empirical studies support the value of cognitive interventions, although it is recognised that most cognitive therapies include aspects of behavioural techniques, making it difficult to draw valid conclusions. Certainly, the results of recent meta-analytic studies have produced optimistic conclusions and justify the continued use of cognitive therapy methods in clinical practice, with a wide range of behavioural problems. Cognitive therapy techniques have something to offer with internalising and externalising disorders alike. Future research should now focus on the identification of methods to enhance the effects of cognitive therapies and to determine the characteristics of children who are most likely to benefit from these methods. There is some evidence to suggest that younger children may benefit less from cognitive therapies than do adolescents. This perhaps reflects differences in cognitive and language development. Further consideration needs to be given to adapting cognitive therapy methods to the developmental level of younger children. Cognitive therapy approaches are now well entrenched within many multi-component programmes for most emotional and behavioural disorders in children. The degree to which cognitive therapies add to the effectiveness of behavioural methods, however, remains to be demonstrated for many types of behaviour problem. It is also unclear whether the changes in affect and overt behaviour produced in these intervention programmes is actually related to improvements in the cognitive activities that were targeted in therapy. From a theoretical perspective, however, cognitive therapies have a high degree of face validity. If deficits or excesses in specific cognitive events or processes are found during assessment, which can be hypothesised to underlie disturbances of affect of behaviour, then there is a strong case for attempting to change these aspects of cognition.

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

Cited by 33 publications

References 15 publications

Adolescent Humor and its Relationship to Coping, Defense Strategies, Psychological Distress, and Well-Being

Adolescent Humor and its Relationship to Coping, Defense Strategies, Psychological Distress, and Well-Being

Attributional Style and Depression in Adolescents with Asperger Syndrome

Cognitive Therapy with Children and Adolescents: From Theory to Practice

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