Background: This study examined social responsibility among nursing students in a vocational college context and

clarified why findings from general college populations cannot be directly transplanted to nursing education. Nursing

students occupy a distinctive professional formation stage in which ethical obligations, public health participation, and

patient advocacy are core training expectations. In the present sample, 304 nursing students from first to third year in

a three-year higher vocational college in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, were surveyed.

Methods: A descriptive correlational design was used. Data were collected with validated scales covering major

satisfaction, nursing professionalism, sociability, and social responsibility. Independent-samples t tests, one-way

ANOVA, Pearson correlations, and multiple regression were conducted.

Findings: Social responsibility was positively associated with major satisfaction (r=.52, p<.001), nursing

professionalism (r=.44, p<.001), and sociability (r=.65, p<.001). Sociability remained the strongest predictor in the

regression model (B=1.36, p<.001), followed by nursing professionalism (B=0.23, p<.001) and major satisfaction

(B=0.15, p=.011). Students reported the highest score for responsibility obligation (3.65±0.44), whereas responsibility

competence remained the lowest (3.33±0.56), indicating that moral commitment still exceeded action capacity.

Volunteer experience, grade, and perceived educational support were also associated with higher social responsibility.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that nursing education should move beyond value endorsement alone and build a

curriculum-practice-reflection loop that strengthens students’ ability to translate professional ethics into socially

responsible action. Although sociability was not formally tested as a moderator in the current dataset, its strong

association suggests that it may amplify how professional satisfaction is converted into social responsibility and

deserves follow-up analysis.