Why do some students avoid asking for help? An examination of the interplay among students' academic efficacy, teachers' social-emotional role, and the classroom goal structure

With hierarchical linear modeling, student reports of the avoidance of help seeking were related to student and classroom characteristics. Avoidance of help seeking was related negatively to students' academic efficacy. However, avoidance of help seeking was related less strongly to students' academic efficacy in classrooms in which teachers believed they should attend to their students' social and emotional needs. Average levels of avoidance of help seeking were related to students' perceptions of the classroom goal structure: A perceived emphasis on self-improvement was related to lower levels of help avoidance, whereas a perceived emphasis on relative ability was associated with higher levels. Teacher reports of their approaches to instruction (emphasizing self-improvement or emphasizing relative ability) were unrelated to students' avoidance of help seeking.