Abstract provided by author:
of the respondents scored on a low level of self-esteem, and that 95
of the respondents showed signs of depression. The results of the study not only challenge some of the findings usually found in western countries (for instance, regarding job seeking behaviour) but also Seligman's theory. It became clear that Windhoek's "street unemployed" do not follow the classical patterns of causal attribution which are assumed to cause depression. Contrary to the expectations the results rather indicate support for the notion that it is not uncontrollability per se which could cause the depression but the stress linked to it