Association between childhood Taekwondo duration and adult participation intention among South Korean university students: a cross-sectional study

Introduction Sport participation during childhood and adolescence is associated with physical activity in adulthood, yet how participation in a specific sport relates to adult participation patterns remains unclear. In South Korea, Taekwondo participation is concentrated in childhood and declines across the transition to adulthood. This cross-sectional study examined whether childhood Taekwondo duration was associated with adult participation time and participation intention in Taekwondo, other martial arts, and sports other than Taekwondo and martial arts. Methods Survey data from 173 undergraduate students (74 females, 99 males) at a university in Seoul were analyzed. To obtain sufficient variation in adult Taekwondo participation, current adult Taekwondo participants were intentionally overrepresented through purposive non-probability sampling at a university gymnasium complex hosting Taekwondo classes and clubs. Participation time was analyzed with two-part models (whether and how long participants took part) and participation intention with linear regression, controlling for gender, grade, part-time job status, perceived health, and depressive symptoms. Childhood exposure was also examined as ever vs. never participation and as duration among those with childhood experience. Results Longer childhood Taekwondo duration was significantly associated with stronger adult Taekwondo participation intention after Bonferroni correction ( B = 0.013, 95% CI [0.004, 0.021], p = 0.003), and a similar pattern was found among those with childhood experience ( B = 0.014, p = 0.004). In contrast, childhood Taekwondo duration was not associated with current Taekwondo participation or participation time. In addition, associations with outcomes in the other activity domains were not significant after Bonferroni correction, and none differed by gender. Discussion These findings suggest that adult intention is related to the amount of childhood participation. The sport-specific association was thus observed only at the level of participation intention. Future longitudinal studies should determine whether this intention translates into sustained participation and whether university-based programs can support this transition.