Academic Achievement Orientation and Help-Seeking Behavior in Early Adolescent Girls

Abstract

This study evaluated task persistence and help-seeking behaviors among 40 girls, 20 each at the fourth- and sixth-grade levels. The girls were classified as high or low in mastery orientation using their scores on a subset of items on the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Scale. Task persistence and help-seeking behaviors were observed while the girls performed a perceptual performance cognitive task. Results indicated that task persistence measured as time spent working on the task did not vary with grade level or mastery orientation. As predicted, girls high in mastery orientation displayed proportionately more adaptive bids for help that focused on solving the task than did their low mastery counterparts. Moreover, girls high in mastery orientation viewed help seeking more favorably as an alternative means of goal attainment than did low mastery-oriented girls. The results are discussed in terms of individual differences in strategies for coping with stress in achievement settings.