Extracurricular Participation and its Correlates among Chinese College Students

Jie Zhang*, Zheng Zhao, Qiong Wu and David Lester

Aims: The aim of this study was to identify the factors that influence the participation in extracurricular activities of Chinese university students.

Methods: We used data collected in surveys on a university campus in Beijing China from 2007 to 2011. Extracurricular participation is a self-reported item, and the independent variables include the students’ demographics and measures psychopathology.

Results: Demographic variables such as gender, political affiliation, and leadership participation, and psychological factors such as depression, social support and satisfaction with major were all associated with extracurricular participation.

Conclusions: A lower level of extracurricular participation was related to higher scores on a measure of depression. Since students’ participation in extracurricular activities can improve college students’ mental health, extracurricular activities should be promoted on Chinese college campuses.

Keywords: College students; Extracurricularparticipation; Class activities participation;Depression; Social support; Suicide

Published on: May 20, 2016 Pages: 1-4

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/asmp.000001
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