An Exploratory Study of Silver Taekwondo as Serious Leisure and Successful Aging

This study explored older adults’ successful aging experiences through Taekwondo through a phenomenological design in which semi-structured interviews were used. The participants were recruited from a local senior center in the midwestern part of Korea using purposeful sampling. Three themes and nine sub-themes emerged from the findings. The first and second themes are related to Stebbins’ (1992) serious leisure theory and the third theme is related to Rowe and Kahn’s (1997) successful aging model. According to the results, participants engaged in Silver Taekwondo as serious leisure and their participation contributed to successful aging. The findings suggest Taekwondo is a promising leisure activity that has a positive impact on the daily lives of older adults.