INCARCERATION AND LEARNED HELPLESSNESS

This study examined whether incarceration, which involves prolonged ex posure to an uncontrollable aversive environment, results in the devel opment of a more helpless attributional style. Thirty recently incarce rated male inmates and 30 male inmates who had been incarcerated for a t least 5 years completed Mo measures of attributional style. Inmates who had been incarcerated for at least 5 years reported a more interna l, stable, and global attributional style for negative events than did the recently incarcerated inmates, even when controlling for age and length of sentence. These findings suggest that prolonged exposure to an uncontrollable situation may have an influence on attributional sty le.