Early predictors of helpless thoughts and behaviors in children: developmental precursors to depressive cognitions.

Learned helplessness behavior and cognitions were assessed in 95 kindergarten-age children during a series of impossible puzzle trials followed by a solvable puzzle trial. Latent growth curve analysis revealed reliable individual differences in the trajectories of children's affect, motivation, and self-cognitions over time. Parents' reports of negative life events, harsh/negative parenting, and warm/positive parenting were associated with their children's learned helplessness behavioral trajectories and outcomes over the course of the puzzle trials.