Research On College Students' Association Participation And Its Impact On Students' Development

College student associations are the “second classroom” for college students to exercise their autonomy and selectivity.They are also important platforms for self-management and self-education of college students,which profoundly affect the college students' development.However,for a long time,the current situation of college students' association participation is not optimistic.And there are many controversies about the cadres of associations.What is the current situation of college students' association participation? Is there a causal relationship between association participation and student development? What factors affect the degree of students' association participation? What is the motivation and orientation of the role of association's cadres? This study adopts a hybrid research method to answer the above questions.Based on quantitative analysis,in-depth interviews were conducted with 29 undergraduates,following the principles of purposive sampling and typical sampling.This is for deeply describing their cognitive,behavioral and emotional performance in association participation,perceiving their subjective gains in associations,and listening to the “multiple voices” behind the role of association cadres.The main findings are as follows:Firstly,81.2% of college students participate in associations,which is a high percentage.The motivation of college students to participate in associations has shown diversity and basically got rid of the unmotivated state.And the dictates of subjective desire and the limitations of objective conditions combine to cause college students not to participate in associations.By establishing a regression model,it is found that grade,class ranking,secondary school association's experience,perceptions of association participation,satisfaction with college life,and parental education are significant factors which affect whether college students participate in associations.This study controls for variables affecting association participation by propensity score matching,and finds that there is a causal relationship between association participation and student development.And students who participate in associations have significantly better development in gaining knowledge,cognitive thinking,practical skills,and emotional experience than students who do not participate in associations.Secondly,although the proportion of college students participating in association is high,the overall level of association participation is average(5-point scale with the mean of 3.32).The mean of behavioral participation is the highest,followed by cognitive participation,and the last one is emotional participation.Rural college students and first-generation college students,who are culturally disadvantaged,are in a marginal position in association participation.They respectively showed the characteristics of “high willingness to participate and low degree of participation”,“low willingness to participate and low degree of participation”.Furthermore,the combination of personal association's experience and association's characteristics influenced the degree of association participation.Significant explanatory variables include years of membership,the position in association,frequency of participating in association's activities,satisfaction with association's experience,association's type,association's size,association's structure and association's instructors.Among them,the degree of student participation is higher in association of less than 30 students in size,matrix organizational structure,and where faculty can provide professional guidance.Thirdly,grade ranking and honorary awards are significant factors influencing students to become the cadres of association.The ritual of association's cadres election in H university has the problems of order over expression,teacher-led and student-passive.Currently,the bureaucratization of association's cadres is a non-common but typical phenomenon.College students' motivations for serving as the cadres of association are mainly focused on exercising ability and socialization.More than half of the association's cadres actively practice the role of “servant over leader”.In addition,the cadres of association mainly use two strategies,“reinforcing power stereotypes” and “careful relationship maintenance”,to deal with the dilemma of inadequate dominance relationships.As in-depth participants,the cadres of associations have a significantly higher level of personal development of knowledge gain,cognitive thinking,practical skills,and emotional experience than regular association's members and students who do not participate in associations.Qualification and ability are the prerequisites for obtaining resources.Therefore,although the identity of association's cadre is closely related to the distribution of superior resources,it is not completely linked.In addition,the tension between the rigid rules of the hierarchical system and the autonomy of college students leaves room for the formalization of association's work such as filling in forms and posing for photos.And the “upwardly responsible” nature of the association's activities overshadows the “downwardly serving” theme.Accordingly,this study recommends that: firstly,the association's management department should reasonably control the scale of the associations,guide the associations to hold influential activities horizontally,and clarify the division of various departments' functions in the association vertically.The “negative list” management model and information management platform are used to reduce the audit and restrictions on the associations.At the same time,the two-way selection mechanism and the full process mentor system are implemented to fulfill the specific responsibilities of association's instructors.Secondly,we should offer courses on associations throughout different stages of education.And popularize the knowledge of campus participation and train the necessary skills for rural college students and first-generation college students.Thirdly,the Youth League Committee of the university should play a leading role.It can join hands with the “Education Community” to offer training courses for the cadres of association to guide them to establish ideals and beliefs and improve their overall quality.