Depression and learned helplessness in mentally retarded and nonmentally retarded adolescents: an initial investigation.

Depression and learned helplessness were examined in a sample of 26 educably mentally retarded (EMR) adolescents and a matched (on age, sex, and race) group of 26 nonmentally retarded adolescents. Depression and learned helplessness were assessed using the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale (RADS) and Mastery Orientation Inventory (MOI), respectively. Results indicated that EMR adolescents manifested significantly (p less than .001) greater depressive symptomatology than their nonmentally retarded peers. Sex differences were also found, with females demonstrating greater depression scores in both groups. Analysis of severity of symptom endorsement showed significant group differences on items reflecting somatic, self-evaluative, and behavioral components of depression, with mentally retarded subjects demonstrating higher scores. Mentally retarded adolescents were found to score higher (p less than .001) on the learned helplessness measure than nonmentally retarded adolescents. Given the problematic nature of depression noted in large sample epidemiological studies of nonmentally retarded adolescents, the results of this investigation indicate that depression in EMR adolescents is an affective characteristic in need of further study.