Support provided by the research advisor is understood to be one of the keys to success in higher-level studies. However, support remains a construct operationalised in many different ways, making it difficult to prescribe those behaviours supervisors should adopt or abandon to optimise support offered to students. This self-report study examines how perceived supportive or unsupportive behaviours relate to students' wellbeing and attitudes towards their studies as well as dropout intentions. 203 graduate students completed an online survey measuring their perceptions of their advisor's support and several outcome measures. The results show that instrumental support explains a larger part of the variance of the outcomes than affective support. However, micromanagement best explains undesirable states such as negative affect, strain and drop out intentions. The results also suggest that demonstrations of support do not compensate for the negative effects of micromanagement. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.