Relations between adjustment to school and help-seeking styles and social support: University students' friendships

Abstract

The present study aimed to clarify relations between university undergraduates' adjustment to school and their tendency of help-seeking styles and social support. The participants, 270 undergraduate students, completed an 85-item questionnaire regarding adolescents' subjective adjustment to school, friendship, help-seeking styles, and social support. Cluster analysis of the results indicated that the students' friendships could be categorized into 4 patterns: (a) adolescents who avoided relations with friends, (b) adolescents who were reserved about contacts with friends, (c) adolescents who were positive about relations with friends, and (d) adolescents who valued relations with friends. Results of a structural equation modeling analysis suggested that different friendship patterns produced different results regarding relations between school adjustment and the tendency to use different help-seeking styles and social support. For those adolescents who avoided relations with friends, higher social support made school adjustment lower, and a higher self-directed help-seeking style made school adjustment higher. Moreover, for those adolescents who were reserved about contact with friends, higher social support made school adjustment higher.