Some students cope with the conflicting demands of work, family, health, and college by engaging in adjustment-seeking behavior, whereby students try to persuade instructors to make the kinds of personalized adjustments needed to avoid the potential consequences of conflicts between academic responsibilities and their other responsibilities. Hypothesized here is that students’ adjustment-seeking behaviors are predicated by knowledge of students’ political skill and adjustment-seeking self-efficacy. Participants completed a survey measuring adjustment-seeking behavior, adjustment-seeking self-efficacy, and political skill. Multiple regression analysis revealed that students’ political skill and adjustment-seeking self-efficacy contributed significantly to the prediction of adjustment-seeking behavior, as hypothesized. Adjustment-seeking behavior was found to be more frequent among participating students with higher levels of political and self-efficacy skills. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
AkgunSCiarrochiJ (2003) Learned resourcefulness moderates the relationship between academic stress and academic performance. Educational Psychology23(3): 287–294.
2.
BaldridgeDVeigaJ (2001) Toward a greater understanding of the willingness to request an accommodation: Can requesters’ beliefs disable the Americans with disabilities act?Academy of Management Review26(1): 85–99.
3.
BanduraA (1986) Social Foundations of Thought and Action. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
4.
BanduraA (1997) Self-efficacy: The Exercise of Control. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company.
5.
BentlerPMSpectartG (1981) Attitudes “cause” behaviors: A structural equations analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology40(2): 226–238.
6.
BonwellCCEisonJA (1991) Active learning: Creating excitement in the classroom. ASHEERIC Higher Education Report No.1, George Washington University, Washington, DC, September.
7.
CayanusJMartinMGoodboyA (2009) The relation between teacher self-disclosure and student motives to communicate. Communication Research Reports26(2): 105–113.
8.
ChemersMMHuLGarciaBF (2001) Academic self-efficacy and first-year college student performance and adjustment. Journal of Educational Psychology93(1): 55–64.
9.
DavisonHKO’LearyBJSchlosbergJAet al. (2009) Don’t ask and you shall not receive: Why future American workers with disabilities are reluctant to demand legally required accommodations. Journal of Workplace Rights141(1): 49–73.
10.
DunleavyKMartinMBrannMet al. (2008) Student nagging behavior in the classroom. Communication Education57(1): 1–19.
11.
FerrisGRDavidsonSLPerrewéPL (2005) Political Skill at Work. Mountain View, CA: Davies-Black Publishing.
12.
FerrisGRTreadwayDCPerrewéPLet al. (2007) Political skill in organizations. Journal of Management33(3): 290–320.
13.
FishbeinMAzjen (2010) Predicting and Changing Behavior: The Reasoned Action Approach. New York: Psychology Press (Taylor & Francis).
14.
FrenchJRavenB (1959) The bases of social power. In: CartwrightD (ed.) Studies in Social Power. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research, pp. 150–167.
15.
GeyerP (2014) Political skill and self-efficacy among college students. Researchers World: Journal of Arts, Science & Commerce5: 11–15.
16.
GeyerP (2016) Defining and measuring student adjustment-seeking behavior. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education8(4): 414–423.
17.
GolishTD (1999) Students’ use of compliance gaining strategies with graduate teaching: Examining the other end of the power spectrum. Communication Quarterly47(1): 12–32.
18.
GolishTDOlsonLN (2000) Students’ use of power in the classroom: An investigation of student power, teacher power, and teacher immediacy. Communication Quarterly48(3): 293–310.
19.
GoodboyA (2011) The development and validation of the instructional dissent scale. Communication Education60(4): 422–440.
20.
GreenglassE (2002) Chapter 3: Proactive coping. In: FrydenbergE (ed.) Beyond Coping: Meeting Goals, Vision, and Challenges. London: Oxford University Press, pp. 37–62.
21.
HergenratherKRhodesSTurnerAet al. (2008) Persons with disabilities and employment: Application of the self-efficacy of Job-Seeking Skills Scale. Journal of Rehabilitation74(3): 34–44.
22.
KadhiravanSKumarK (2012) Enhancing stress coping skills among college students. Researchers World: Journal of Arts, Science & Commerce4(1): 49–55.
23.
KennettDJKeeferK (2006) Impact of learned resourcefulness and theories of intelligence on academic achievement of university students. Educational Psychology26(3): 441–457.
24.
KennettDJReedMJStuartA (2013) The impact of reasons for attending university on academic resourcefulness and adjustment. Active Learning in Higher Education14(2): 123–133.
25.
LaneAMHallRLaneJ (2004) Self-efficacy and statistics performance among sport studies students. Teaching in Higher Education9(4): 435–448.
26.
LenzB (2008) Beliefs, knowledge, and self-efficacy of nursing students regarding tobacco cessation. American Journal of Preventive Medicine35(Suppl. 6): 494–500.
27.
MansfieldAAddisMCourtneyW (2005) Measurement of men’s help seeking: Development and evaluation of the barriers to Help Seeking Scale. Psychology of Men & Masculinity6(2): 95–108.
28.
MartinMMyersSMottetT (1999) Students’ motives for communicating with their instructors. Communication Education48(2): 155–164.
29.
MottetTPBeebeSARaffeldPet al. (2004) The effects of student verbal and nonverbal responsiveness on teachers’ liking of students and willingness to comply with requests. Communication Quarterly52(1): 27–38.
30.
MunyonTPSummarsJKThompsonKMet al. (2014) Political skill and work outcomes: A theoretical extension, meta-analytic investigation, and agenda for the future. Personnel Psychology68(1): 143–184.
31.
PintrichP (1999) The role of motivation in promoting and sustaining self-regulated learning. International Journal of Educational Research31(6): 459–470.
32.
Prince (2004) Does active learning work? A review of the research. Journal of Engineering Research93(3): 223–231.
33.
RichardsonMAbrahamCBondR (2012) Psychological correlates of university students’ academic performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin138(2): 353–387.
34.
RickwoodDDeaneFPWilsonCJet al. (2005) Young people’s help-seeking for mental health problems. Australian e-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health43(Suppl. 3): 1–34.
35.
RosenbaumM (1990) The role of learned resourcefulness in the self-control of health behavior. In: RosenbaumM (ed.) Learned Resourcefulness: On Coping Skills, Self-control and Adaptive Behavior. New York: Springer, pp. 4–25.
36.
SchwarzerR (1992) Self-efficacy in the adoption and maintenance of health behaviors: Theoretical approaches and a new model. In: SchwarzerR (ed.) Self-efficacy: Thought Control of Action. Washington, DC: Hemisphere Publishing Corporation, pp. 217–243.
37.
SchwarzerR (2000) Chapter 24: Manage stress at work through preventive and proactive coping. In: LockeE (ed.) The Blackwell Handbook of Principles of Organizational Behavior. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 342–355.
38.
SchwarzerR (2008) Modeling health behavior change: How to predict and modify the adoption and maintenance of health behaviors. Applied Psychology: An International Review57(1): 1–29.
39.
SchwarzerRFuchsR (1995) Self-efficacy and health behaviors. In: ConnerMNormanP (eds) Predicting Health Behavior: Research and Practice with Social Cognition Models. Buckingham: Open University Press, pp. 163–196.
40.
WilliamsJDTakakuS (2011) Help seeking, self-efficacy, and writing performance among college students. Journal of Writing Research3(1): 1–18.
41.
WrightCN (2013) Examining the silence of academic disappointment: A typology of students’ reasons for not discussing disappointing grades with instructors. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning13(5): 46–60.
42.
ZajcovaALynchSEspenshadeT (2005) Self-efficacy, stress, and academic success in college. Research in Higher Education46(6): 667–706.
