The longitudinal trajectory of learned helplessness among adolescent students: The role of parental autonomy support and control

This study investigated the longitudinal trajectory of learned helplessness in academic settings during adolescence, examined the generalizability of this trajectory across students' demographic and academic backgrounds, and assessed the role of parental autonomy support and psychological control in predicting learned helplessness at each time point. We analyzed five waves of large-scale panel data following Korean adolescent students (N = 2590) from Grade 7 to Grade 11. Our second-order latent basis growth modeling indicated that adolescent students tend to experience a significant, steady increase in helplessness from Grade 7 to Grade 11. In addition, both students' prior academic achievement and family income negatively predicted the intercept of learned helplessness. The contemporaneous effects of parental autonomy support and psychological control on learned helplessness were significant and in the expected directions at all time points: higher autonomy support was associated with lower learned helplessness, whereas higher psychological control was associated with higher helplessness. Notably, parental control exhibited a significant escalating effect, such that its detrimental effect on learned helplessness became stronger over time, whereas the protective effect of parental autonomy support remained stable. This study provides theoretical and practical implications, highlighting the roles of parental autonomy support and control in shaping adolescents' learned helplessness over time.