Abstract: Objective To investigate the change tendency and possible reasons of study engagement among associate nursing students in different grades. Methods Totally 270 associate nursing students were investigated using Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Student at each year and 14 students were interviewed. Results The total score and dimension scores of study engagement among first-year and third-year nursing students were significantly higher than those of second-year students（P<0.05）.The possible reasons of changes in study engagement were that students in the first grade were curious about new knowledge，the learning interest decreased with the increased difficulty of learning content in the second grade，the learning needs and interest in the third grade were stimulated by clinical practice. Conclusion Nursing teachers in junior colleges should pay more attention to the study engagement of second-year nursing students，increase opportunities of clinical practice and take multiple teaching methods to stimulate students’ learning interests and needs，and thereby to improve their study engagement.

Key words: Students, Nursing； Questionnaires； Study engagement