This study explored how adaptive help seeking was related to academic self‐efficacy, perfectionism (maladaptive and adaptive), attitudes toward help seeking (perceived benefits and perceived threats), and teacher emotional support among 311 grade 9 students in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes. Significant bivariate links emerged between adaptive help seeking and all six potential correlates. Regression analyses indicated that teacher emotional support, adaptive perfectionism (high personal standards), and perceived benefits were significant, positive predictors of adaptive help seeking. Gender also was a significant predictor, as boys had lower levels of adaptive help seeking compared with girls. Furthermore, gender moderated the association between perceived benefits and adaptive help‐seeking; perceived benefits were particularly highly associated with boys’ adaptive help seeking from classroom teachers. Strategies for explicating the benefits of adaptive help seeking, promoting adaptive perfectionism, and fostering teacher emotional support are provided, as well as limitations and future directions for research.