ABSTRACT
Seeking help when needed in academic study is an important self-regulatory strategy. This study examined the relationship between implicit beliefs of ability and help-seeking tendencies, and their roles in students’ achievement. A large sample of Singapore secondary students first took measures of implicit beliefs of ability (incremental and entity) and help-seeking tendencies (adaptive, expedient and avoidant), and then took a math assessment about three months later. Structural equation modeling analyses found that an incremental belief of ability was associated positively with adaptive help seeking and negatively with avoidant help seeking, and an entity belief of ability was associated positively with expedient and avoidant help seeking. Adaptive and expedient help seeking in turn predicted subsequent achievement positively and negatively, respectively, when previous achievement was controlled. Implicit beliefs of ability predicted subsequent achievement through the mediation of help-seeking tendencies. An incremental belief of ability predicted positively subsequent achievement through adaptive help seeking, while an entity belief of ability predicted negatively subsequent achievement both directly and through expedient help seeking. The findings enhance our understanding of both implicit beliefs of ability and help seeking. Practical implications are discussed in the academic context of Singapore.
