SOCIAL GOALS, ACADEMIC GOALS, AND AVOIDING SEEKING HELP IN THE CLASSROOM

Why do some students avoid seeking help with their classwork when it i s needed Investigated in this study were the relations between early a dolescents' academic and social goals and reports of avoiding help-see king and perceiving that help-seeking is a threat to self-work. Survey s were administered to 443 fifth graders in 12 elementary schools. Bei ng oriented to demonstrating ability (relative ability goals) and want ing to be associated with the popular group (social status goals) were related positively to perceiving threat and avoiding help-seeking. Be ing oriented to developing ability (task-focused goals) was related ne gatively to perceiving threat curd avoiding help-seeking. Wanting to f orm positive relationships with peers (intimacy goals) was related neg atively to avoiding help-seeking. There was a significant Grade Point Average x Relative Ability Goals interaction, indicating that lower-ac hieving students with relative ability goats were more likely to avoid help-seeking than were higher-achieving students.