THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARENTS' AND TEACHERS' ATTITUDES AND LEARNED HELPLESSNESS LEVELS OF CHILDREN

Objective:

The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between parents’ attitudes and teachers’ behaviours and learned helplessness levels of children. Regression analysis was performed in the current study to find out the impact of parents’ and teachers’ attitutes to learned helplessness levels of students.

Method:

The subjects of the study was 191 fifth grade primary school students in Diyarbakır who had been selected randomly from three primary schools of lower, medium and higher socio-economical levels. Learned Helplessness Scale, Parents’ Attitudes Scale and Perceived Teachers’ Behaviours Scale was three scales used in the research.

Results:

Mothers’ authoritarian attitutes towards their children were found to be a more effective factor than fathers’ and teachers’attitutes in terms of consisting learned helpessness in children. Male students were observed to experience more intense learned helpnessness than female students. A relation was been found between the socio-economical level of the family and the learned helpessness of the child. Students’ styles of charging were also found to be important in consisting learned helplessness. Although students’ internal charging against failure caused learned helplessness, their external charging against failure did not result in learned helplessness.

Discussion:

In order to achieve healthy personalities, children should be supported to develop coping strategies to overcome their problems. Individuals who are succesful in overcoming their problems will develop a positive self-sense and positive personalities. On the other hand, it is inevitable that children who are not able to handle their own problems will have negative personalities. Especially parents’ and teachers’ attitudes towards children are especially effective for developing positive personalities of children.