Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 218-228). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Previous research has shown benefits of adolescents' disclosure of activities to parents in reducing risk of deviant child behavior (Kerr & Stattin, 2000; Stattin & Kerr, 2000). In the current study I examine the effect of disclosure on learned helpless attributions, through the mediators of paternal, maternal, and peer support in sample of college undergraduates enrolled in psychology classes. In two online data collection points, participants completed measures on peer, paternal, and maternal support, disclosure, and negative attributions. In order to examine associations among these variables, I tested three general models: 1) disclosure would predict negative attributions through support, 2) support would predict negative attributions through disclosure, and 3) support would moderate the relations between disclosure and learned helpless attributions. Results demonstrated interrelations of disclosure with peer, maternal, and paternal support. Disclosure, peer support, and maternal support were negatively correlated with learned helpless attributions. However, the first and second models were not supported. The third model was partially supported in regard to maternal support. When maternal support was low, greater disclosure was associated with greater learned helpless attributions. Future longitudinal and experimental research is needed to further discern pathways of association for these constructs. / Master of Science

A fifty-item questionnaire, representing personality attributes related to behaviors used to index the phenomenon of learned helplessness, was administered to 152 undergraduate students. Based upon factor analysis of the results, six subscales were developed to predict latency of response, failures to solve, and trials to task criterion of anagram solving, this being used to index the phenomenon of learned helplessness. The subscales comprised a ninety-item questionnaire given to seventy-seven undergraduate students three days before participation in the experiment proper. The subjects attempted to solve Levine (1971) discrimination problems (designed to be insolvable) and then attempted to solve patterned anagrams. Contrary to the learned helpless model of depression (Miller and Seligman, 1973), depression was curvilinearly related to latency of response and failures to solve in the anagram task. In addition, internal locus of control was linearly related to trials to criterion.

Avoidance is behaviour that prevents or postpones the occurrence of an aversive stimulus; whereas, escape is behaviour that terminates an aversive stimulus. There are two types of avoidance, both of which prevent an aversive stimulus from occurring. Standard avoidance involves a warning stimulus that predicts an aversive stimulus, reinforced by the termination of the warning stimulus. Alternatively, Sidman or free-operant avoidance does not include a warning stimulus and it is unknown what the exact reinforcing properties are that maintain it. Previous research has found that Betta splendens (Siamese fighting fish) may not engage in Sidman avoidance whereas other fish species including Carassius auratus (goldfish) do. The present study looked at whether Betta splendens could be taught Sidman avoidance when water disturbance is the aversive stimulus, by prompting the fish to emit the avoidance response of crossing over between the two sides of an experimental tank in 30second intervals, and reinforcing the behaviour with a mirror. Results showed an increase in the frequency of independent (i.e., unprompted) crossovers between the sides of the experimental tank resulting in avoidance of water disturbance, an aversive stimulus for these fish. The increase in responding was maintained for one of the three subjects when reinforcement was removed, suggesting that this species can learn Sidman avoidance. / May 2016

M.A. (Clinical Psychology) / This study was undertaken in an attempt to validate the hypothesis that anxious subjects who ingested diazepam (Valium) and were subjected to a helplessness inducing situation,would become more depressed and more hopeless than people who were subjected to the same situation and obtained anxiety relief by means of a response-contingent behaviour - a muscle relaxation exercise. Twenty-nine male and female students were selected from the undergraduate and post-graduate student population at the Rand Afrikaans University on the basis of scores on the IPAT Anxiety Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory. The subjects were randomly assigned to one of the three experimental groups and the one control group and were subjected to the helplessness inducing situation. A wide spectrum of measures were performed and the results subjected to analyses of variance. The results indicated support for the hypothesis that people who received response contingent anxiety relief became less depressed than people who obtained non-response-contingent anxiety relief. No support was found for the hopelessness construct. The lack of results of this were discussed in terms of the effectiveness of the measuring instruments and that hopelessness and helplessness might be different concepts.

Thesis advisor: Carolyn Thomas / A quasi-experimental study was done to investigate the relative influence of running on the self-esteem and attributional styles of a group of 623 women in Boston. Volunteers from the participants in the 1983 Bonne Bell 10K race formed the runners group while the two control groups, athletic non-runners and non-athletic women, were composed of volunteers randomly self-selected from among patrons in various Boston service organizations. Study participants were tested using Seligmans Attribution Style Questionnaire (1981) and Hudson's Index of Self-Esteem (1982). Results of the ASQ showed that the women who ran consistently tended to have a more internal than external locus of control and had an attributional style associated with an empowered sense of self. Results of the ISE showed that women who run consistently have a significantly higher level of self-esteem than do either the women who are athletic but who do not run or the non-athletic women, with the non-athletic women scoring with lower self-esteem than the athletic non-runners. On a subjective rating for degree of happiness, the consistent runners scored significantly higher than those women in the control groups. Both clinical and policy implications of these findings were discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 1987. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

The satisfaction-paradox, defined as the state of being satisfied with objectively unsatisfactory living conditions, represents a dysfunctional state of the poor for both the government and individuals by creating long-term poverty. Traditional rationales classify the reasons for this phenomenon as conscious decisions of individuals or shiftlessness and thereby results in material and social costs associated with this phenomenenon for both the individual and the government. This study undertakes a first step to provide empirical evidence for a constructive explanation of the satisfaction-paradox employing the theory of learned helplessness. A secondary analysis of the Hunger Factors Assessment data set in Oregon (1986, 1988) was performed. The study uses a newly developed theoretical model that incorporates both the quality of life model, from which the satisfaction-paradox evolves, as well as the learned helplessness model, offered as one explanation of the paradox. Criteria from the model were then defined by measures in the data set to identify the group of "learned helpless and satisfied poor". Approximately 10 percent of the Oregon Emergency Food Users have been identified as "learned helpless and satisfied poor". The investigation of their socio-demographic characteristics, in comparison to "not learned helpless and dissatisfied poor", has described them as rather more likely to be female, single, older, employed, home owners or renters, living with others, and long-term residents of Oregon. In these ways they seem to be more settled then the poverty stereotype and more closely resemble typical Oregon residents. However, like others in poverty, they lack income and information (or resource) networks. Discriminant analysis was utilized to make a first step towards early identification of the poor "at risk" of learning helplessness by assessing their socio-demographic characteristics. The resulting function includes these variables: age of respondents, their employment status, their gender, the fact that they receive welfare income, their household equipment, their educational level, the number of income sources, the length of residency, their health status, household size, their homeownership, the fact that they have health insurance and finally, the labor potential of their households. It explains, in total, 48.3 percent of the difference between the two groups at a p-level of 0.01 or less, a Chi-Square of 71.13 (dF = 14) and a Wilk's Lambda of 0.76. Its predictive assignment of learned helpless and satisfied poor was 12 percent higher than a random assignment and 15 percent in the case of the not learned helpless and dissatisfied poor. The model, therefore, seems to be useful in understanding a certain segment of the poor, but needs more development research. A longitudinal, primary data set, including psychological variables and refined operationalization of the learned helplessness concept would bring more detailed insight and practical implications. However, it could be shown that an individual attributing "failure" internally, and having opportunity to experience failure and uncontrollability, can enter the process of learning helplessness regardless of former achievements and value dispositions. Causality models to explain poverty should hence acknowledge both micro- and macro-level effects and thus result in more complex explanations and solutions than current models. / Graduation date: 1991

Deliberate self harm as defined pathologically as well as socially is becoming an increasing phenomenon within forensic psychiatry. Nurses working with patients who have self harm behaviour and are confined to forensic psychiatry face different challenges which affect their feelings and attitudes in different ways, in their nursing practice. Purpose: To explore nurses’ experiences of caring for patients who suffer from deliberate self harm behaviour and are confined to forensic psychiatry. Method: Qualitative semi- structured interview s from eight nurses working within the forensic psychiatric clinic. Interviews were analysed by using a qualitative content analysis. Results: They worked strategically and emphasized the importance of teamwork, good communication and urged for the need to get necessary education, staff focused tutoring and patient focused therapy. Conclusion: Need for necessary education, patient focused therapy and staff focused tutor is needed to empower staff working with patients who are confined within forensic psychiatry and suffer from deliberate self harm behaviour. / Introduktion: Självskadebeteende beskrivs vanligtvis utifrån ett patologiskt perspektiv och är allt vanligare inom rättspsykiatrisk vård. Beteendet anses ofta vara socialt oacceptabelt i samhället. Sjuksköterskor ställs ofta inför olika emotioner och synsätt i mötet med patienter med självskadebeteende. Dessa känslor och attityder påverkar både sjuksköterskan och patienter på olika sätt. Syfte: Examensarbetets syfte var att belysa sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av att vårda patienter med självskadebeteende, som vårdas inom rättspsykiatrisk vård i Sverige. Metod: Studien har genomförts med hjälp av kvalitativa semi-strukturerade intervjuer, som analyserats med innehållsanalys. Åtta sjuksköterskor deltog i studien. Resultat: Från intervjuerna framkom det att sjuksköterskorna upplevde olika känslor och reaktioner gentemot patienter med självskadebeteende. Känslorna var av frustration, hjälplöshet, ilska, ångest och rädsla. Sjuksköterskorna betonade vikten i att ha en god kommunikation i omvårdnaden med sina kollegor, samt efterlyste behovet av utbildning och handledning till personalen samt patientfokuserad terapi. Slutsats: För att stärka sjuksköterskorna i deras omvårdnadsarbete och professionella roll gentemot patienter med självskadebeteende, som vistas inom den svenska rättspsykiatriska vården, krävs det faktabaserade utbildning och handledning för att kunna ge en god vård. Deliberate self harm as defined pathologically as well as socially is becoming an increasing phenomenon within forensic psychiatry. Nurses working with patients who have self harm behaviour and are confined to forensic psychiatry face different challenges which affect their feelings and attitudes in different ways, in their nursing practice.

This study aimed at examining the association between perfectionism and helpless explanatory style as a function of gender in a Turkish university sample. The sample consisted of 331 undergraduate students from 35 departments of Middle East Technical University. Turkish version of Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS, Oral, 1999) and Depressive Attribution Style Questionnaire (DASQ, Aydin, 1988a) were used to collect data. Factor analysis was employed to the MPS scores to investigate the dimensions of perfectionism as perceived by the participants. MANOVA was conducted to examine a possible relationship between perfectionism and helpless explanatory style as a function of gender. Results of the factor analysis revealed four factors, termed self-oriented, socially prescribed, other-oriented perfectionism, and perfectionist expectations. With regard to the results of the MANOVA no significant associations emerged between perfectionism and helpless explanatory style as a function of gender.

Thesis (B.A. Hons. 1980) from the Department of Psychology, University of Adelaide.