Studying the Factors Affecting Social Participation in Student Associations(Case Study: Ferdowsi University of Mashhad)

Scientific associations as an important institution play significant roles in society. Therefore, the study of their functions, structures, and identification of influential factors on strengthening their functions are of significant. The statistical population of this study is all undergraduate students of Ferdowsi University in the academic year of 2018-2019- totally 9977 students. 150 students were selected as the random sampling in this research. Finally, with the use of SPSS and the suitable tests, the data was analyzed. 
 Descriptive results showed that the level of students' social participation in scientific associations was low (40%). Furthermore, social trust, the efficiency of scientific associations, the benefits of association membership and the relationship of the associations with departments as the dependent variables were better. Plus, the inferential analysis demonstrated that there was a significant correlation between the dependent variables and the students' social participation. It is also important to note that the path analysis that the dependent variables, except for association efficiency, explained 20% of the changes in social participation.