Predictors of adaptive help seeking across ninth‐grade students enrolled in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses

Abstract

This study explored how adaptive help seeking was related to academic self‐efficacy, perfectionism (maladaptive and adaptive), attitudes toward help seeking (perceived benefits and perceived threats), and teacher emotional support among 311 grade 9 students in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes. Significant bivariate links emerged between adaptive help seeking and all six potential correlates. Regression analyses indicated that teacher emotional support, adaptive perfectionism (high personal standards), and perceived benefits were significant, positive predictors of adaptive help seeking. Gender also was a significant predictor, as boys had lower levels of adaptive help seeking compared with girls. Furthermore, gender moderated the association between perceived benefits and adaptive help‐seeking; perceived benefits were particularly highly associated with boys’ adaptive help seeking from classroom teachers. Strategies for explicating the benefits of adaptive help seeking, promoting adaptive perfectionism, and fostering teacher emotional support are provided, as well as limitations and future directions for research.

Asking for help as a key to success: The relationship between student help‐seeking skills and mathematics self‐efficacy

“…These results empower teachers and administrators to take a more active role in encouraging positive self‐efficacy development. As previous researchers (Parker et al, 2019; Peeters et al, 2020) have indicated, our results strengthen the need for educators to show students the benefits of seeking help, to teach their students where to find help, and to provide resources where they can get help in a non‐threatening environment (e.g., peer tutoring centers, online, and teacher support). Additionally, as students seek help, they are likely to have more opportunities for positive mastery experiences which will bring additional improvements to self‐efficacy.…”

“…When classrooms are seen as positive and safe, learning objectives are clear, approaches to inquiry learning are supported, and productive work habits are encouraged, students are more willing to ask for help (Smalley & Hopkins, 2020). Additionally, students are more likely to ask for help when teachers are supportive and empathetic to their challenges (Peeters et al, 2020;Skaalvik et al, 2015) and when students see the benefits of seeking help (Parker et al, 2019;Peeters et al, 2020). Furthermore, research suggests that helpseeking behaviors and supportive teachers significantly improve mathematics achievement (Osborne & Ma, 2020;Peeters et al, 2020;Skaalvik et al, 2015).…”

Acceptability of a Preventative Coping and Connectedness Curriculum for High School Students Entering Accelerated Curricula

“…Five teachers sought student participation and parent permission from all ninth-grade students enrolled in a state-approved Pre-IBD course, Inquiry Skills (School C), or AP Human Geography (School D). We invited students who returned signed parent consent forms to take part in the portions of the larger study that involved collection of personal and confidential data (e.g., assessment of student mental health and academic outcomes across time, as analyzed in studies reported elsewhere [O’Brennan et al, 2020; Parker et al, 2019; Suldo et al, 2019]) while all students in the classrooms where ACE was implemented were invited to provide anonymous feedback on their perceptions of the curriculum. A total of 331 ninth-grade students agreed to participate in the larger study (participation rate = 93.0%; 3.6% of parents declined consent; 3.4% of students did not return parent consent forms).…”

Academic Help-Seeking Attitudes, and Their Relationship with Emotional Variables

“…Likewise, behavior and attitudes about seeking academic help have affective and emotional components [17] which can arise during the anticipation stage of learning self-regulation, and can be involved in the final decision to choose to seek help, or not, from other people. Under this premise, such constructs as the emotional costs and benefits of seeking help have been studied.…”

“…The benefits of help seeking have also been studied in terms of socioemotional variables. For example, a study carried out on high school students [17] found positive relationships between the benefits of academic help seeking and adaptive perfectionism, teacher emotional support, and academic efficacy. It also reported a negative relationship between the perceived benefits of academic help seeking and maladaptive perfectionism.…”