Social Goals, Academic Goals, and Avoiding Seeking Help in the Classroom

Why do some students avoid seeking help with their class work when it is needed? Investigated in this study were the relations between early adolescents' academic and social goals and reports of avoiding help-seeking and perceiving that help-seeking is a threat to self-worth. Surveys were administered to 443 fifth graders in 12 elementary schools. Being oriented to demonstrating ability (relative ability goals) and wanting to be associated with the popular group (social status goals) were related positively to perceiving threat and avoiding help-seeking. Being oriented to developing ability (task-focused goals) was related negatively to perceiving threat and avoiding help-seeking. Wanting to form positive relationships with peers (intimacy goals) was related negatively to avoiding help-seeking. There was a significant Grade Point Average x Relative Ability Goals interaction, indicating that lower-achieving students with relative ability goals were more likely to avoid help-seeking than were higher-achieving students.