Barriers to academic help-seeking: the relationship with gender-typed attitudes

Abstract

In recent years, male students at UK schools and universities have been falling behind their female peers in academic achievement. Previous studies have shown that male students are less likely than female students to seek academic help, but have not investigated the relationship between gender-typical attitudes and reluctance to seek academic help. In the present study, 162 students at six UK universities completed the Help-Seeking Scales and the Traditional Gender Script Questionnaire. Data from this survey were analysed using MANOVA and multilple linear regression. The main findings were that reluctance to seek help was predicted by higher scores on the masculine gender script subscale Mastery and Control of feelings for both male (β =.448, p<.01) and female students (β =.497, p<.001). For male participants, being a Fighter and a Winner also predicted reluctance to seek help (β =-.322, p<.05) whereas, for female students, greater help-seeking was associated with more interest in creating Family Harmony (β =-.272, p<.05). These findings suggest that the helpseeking behaviour of both male and female students is related to specific gender-typical attitudes. We suggest that awareness of these attitudes can serve to inform educational practice by facilitating access to academic assistance and encouraging all students to seek academic help.

Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior to Identify Variables Related to Academic Help Seeking in Higher Education

“…To increase subjective norms, Thomas and Tagler (2019) advocated conducting information campaigns about academic help seeking with key stakeholders, such as lecturers, family and other students. Similarly, Brown et al (2020) suggested that the promotion of academic help seeking demonstrating its benefits through educators with the use of role models can increase students' attitude towards academic help seeking. University campuses should therefore carefully plan the promotion of academic support by addressing the above-mentioned factors, such as reducing stigma.…”

Perceived Peer Exclusion as Predictor of Students’ Help-Seeking Strategies in Higher Education

“…Even among university students, helpseeking can be affected by (traditional) gender roles (cf. Brown et al, 2020;Shnabel et al, 2016), according to which the male identity is traditionally associated with autonomy and self-reliance (Amemiya & Wang, 2017). At the same time, studies in secondary education showed that "effortless achieving" is not only more in line with the male gender role, but also entails psychological benefits for boys (Heyder & Kessels, 2016).…”

¿Por qué no pedir ayuda cuando la necesito? Obstáculos a la búsqueda de apoyos académicos institucionales (AAI) en universitarios chilenos

“…Evidentemente, la comprensión de estas barreras podría permitir estrategias de mejora para el acceso y la prestación oportuna de ayudas académicas. Finalmente, aun cuando existen estudios respecto a factores o barreras que inciden en la búsqueda de ayuda en general (ver por ejemplo Brown et al, 2020;Chowdhury & Halder, 2019), son pocos los que se focalizan en las barreras específicas respecto a los apoyos académicos ofertados por las instituciones (e.g. Seamark & Gabriel, 2018).…”