Rethinking Serious Leisure: A Triadic Framework of Existential Authenticity and Self-Transformation in Recreational Scuba Diving

This study explores how young, highly educated adults in contemporary China interpret scuba diving as meaningful leisure. Using constructivist grounded theory, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with five recreational divers. Analysis identified three interrelated themes: natural reverence, role deconstruction, and confronting mortality. Participants described feeling small and exposed in relation to underwater environments, temporarily suspending familiar social distinctions and emphasizing practical competence over status. Routine procedures and near-miss incidents heightened awareness of dependence and vulnerability, prompting reflection on personal priorities and life meaning. These experiences were situated within the evaluative pressures of everyday life on land, highlighting how scuba diving provides a space for reorienting self-understanding, social relations, and priorities. The study contributes to leisure scholarship by extending serious leisure theory beyond mastery-centered accounts, emphasizing attunement, relationality, and existential awareness in the construction of meaningful leisure. Implications for understanding immersive and transformative leisure experiences in high-pressure cultural contexts are discussed.