[Widowhood from the perspective of the theory of learned helplessness]

Applying Seligman's theory of learned helplessness to the situation of the widowed means that the spouse's death and the resulting events may be seen as incidents which are not under the influence of the living partner. Therefore widowed persons will show the helplessness which Seligman described and the motivational, cognitive, and affective consequences--at least when these persons could hardly control their living conditions before. A secondary analysis (survey on 65 to 85 year-olds) which could not use all relevant variables delivers results in agreement with the hypotheses.