# Academic help seeking behavior as a mediator of the relationship between social skill and mathematics achievement among primary school students

## TL;DR

This study shows that students' academic help-seeking behavior helps explain how social skills influence their math achievement.

## Contribution

It identifies academic help-seeking behavior as a partial mediator between social skills and math achievement in primary school students.

## Key findings

- Social skills have a direct positive effect on academic help-seeking behavior and math achievement.
- Academic help-seeking behavior partially mediates the relationship between social skills and math achievement.
- The study suggests interventions to improve academic help-seeking behavior could enhance math achievement.

## Abstract

This study aimed to examine the mediating role of students’ academic help-seeking behavior in explaining the relationship between students’ social skills as motivational orientation and mathematics achievement among primary schools of Grade 8 students. Data were collected from 930 students among nine primary schools at the Dessie city administration in Ethiopia. The participant students were selected using systematic random sampling technique among selected schools. In line with the research objective, the research used correlational design in order to explain the relationship among variables. SPSS 24.0 and Smart PLS 4 were used for data analysis. The result of this study shows a significant direct positive effect of social skill on academic help-seeking behavior and mathematics achievement. Moreover, academic help-seeking behavior demonstrates a direct positive effect on mathematics achievement and plays a partial mediating role in the relationship between social skill and mathematics achievement. Thus, the findings indicated that the students’ academic help-seeking behaviors are part of the mechanism through which social skill affects students’ mathematics achievement. Accordingly, the research suggests the importance of comprehensive interventions to enhance students’ academic achievement.