Understanding Learned Helplessness in First Year Students

AUTHOR: Larissa Mauer
FACULTY: Jen Wallin-Ruschman
DEPARTMENT: Psychology

ABSTRACT

When students begin college, they are faced with a multitude of new stressors like academic accountability, time management, self-care, and independence. All these new stressors can create a sense of being unprepared and a feeling of being overwhelmed causing a decrease in motivation, self-esteem, and expectations of success. Youth who are unable to handle the increased stress during this transition to college may be particularly vulnerable to mental health problems including learned helplessness. Learned helplessness is characterized as feeling unable to control, handle, or change a situation and often occurs when an individual experiences a stressful situation repeatedly.  Learned helplessness can have an influence on depression, anxiety, and suicidal tendencies all of which are steadily increasing in today’s college aged students. However, literature demonstrates that athletes can be protected from developing learned helplessness because of their ability to reassess goals, diverse support systems, and mental training. The current study used a qualitative, open-ended questionnaire to explore learned helplessness in first year students at the College of Idaho. Responses were analyzed using Thematic Content Analysis. This method builds on previous quantitative literature by creating a deeper understanding of the lived experience of learned helplessness and explores differences in collegiate athletes and nonathletes. Having a better understanding of the experience of learned helpless in first year athletes and nonathletes will help in creating ways to combat it and prevent it from contributing to other physical and mental problems.