Children's depressive symptoms, negative self-statements, and causal attributions for success and failure

Abstract

On the basis of the reformulated model of learned helplessness, we tested relationships among level of depression, negative self-statements, causal attributions for success and failure, and mood states among schoolchildren. The experimental manipulation of success and failure on an anagram task was an extension of previous work with depressed and nondepressed college students. Results showed, first, that depressive symptoms were related to impaired performance. Second, there were no significantly different responses to success and failure by children with depressive symptoms versus those without such symptoms. Neither causal attributions, self-statements, nor postanagram mood was affected by the presence of depressive symptoms, regardless of whether the child succeeded or failed. On the other hand, across conditions, subjects responded differentially to success and failure. Those in the success condition attributed their performance more to ability and luck and less to task difficulty than did those in the failure condition. Additionally, successful subjects reported a more elevated mood than did unsuccessful subjects. Future research is suggested, based on these results and the different patterns of correlations that emerged among negative self-statements, causal attributions, and mood for successful and unsuccessful subjects.