Subjects scoring above and below a sample median on the Beck Depression Inventory were randomly assigned to one of several experimental conditions. They were exposed to an unsolvable task accompanied by unavoidable aversive noise, an identical but solvable task whose solution prevented the noise and conditions designed to control for the effects of noise. Adolescents in the depressed group and exposed to the unsolvable task exhibited significant performance deficits on a subsequent solvable task when compared to their counterparts in the other groups. Adolescents in the nondepressed group showed no deficits indicating that adolescents become more vulnerable to suffering a disruption of active coping as the level of depressive symptomatology increases. Study findings have direct implications for treatment and prevention. For instance, evidence indicates that adolescents' view of themselves and their abilities may be learned from parent and teacher attitudes toward them, such that the education of adults as to their potential impact on self-esteem can serve a protective function. Psychotherapy has been shown to change a depressive cognitive style into more solid self-esteem, and cognitive therapies specifically designed to alter depressive belief systems have demonstrated therapeutic results rivaling those of antidepressant medications. 24 references and 1 figure (Author abstract modified)