Predictors of Learned Helplessness Among Average and Mildly Gifted Girls and Boys Attending Initial High School Physics Instruction in Germany

In mathematics, physics, and chemistry, women are still considered to be at a disadvantage. In the present study, the development of the symptoms of learned helplessness was of particular interest. A study involving average and mildly gifted 8th-grade boys and girls (top 6%) investigated whether girls, regardless of ability level, experience helplessness in introductory physics courses more intensely than their male counterparts. Contrary to current research findings, no particular disadvantages for gifted girls could be isolated. In total, 7 explanatory approaches to helplessness were examined by regression analysis: the talent deficit hypothesis, the prior physics knowledge deficit hypothesis, the self-confidence deficit hypothesis, the modification deficit hypothesis, the interest deficit hypothesis, the anxiety hypothesis, and the control deficit hypothesis. On the basis of these findings, approaches to assist in the development of interventions are suggested.