This study investigated the relationship between peer relations and help-seeking behavior. Seventy-four subjects, predominately black boys and girls, were drawn from the third and fifth grades. A roster-rating sociometric scale was used to obtain measures of children's perceived academic competence, desirability as a helper, and friendship status in their reading and math classes. Intensive naturalistic observation of a subset of these children in their classrooms provided data on actual help-seeking behavior. The relationship between peer relations and academic help-seeking was found to vary with the target of the help-seeking overture and with the type of help requested. The helper's perceived academic competence and friendship status were important determinants of help seekers' liking of their helpers, but the impact of these factors differed for boys and girls. In reading classes, significant negative correlations were found between instrumental help-seeking and competence ratings received from both same- and opposite-sex classmates. In math classes, however, frequency of instrumental help-seeking was not related to any of the peer sociometric ratings. (Author/RH)