Coping with stress among gays and lesbians: Implications for human development over the lifespan

Gays and lesbians are at risk of being exposed to high levels of stress because of their marginalized social identities and social locations in dominant cultures. Given the prevalence and significance of stress in the lives of gays and lesbians regardless of their age, stress-coping is one of the key axes of their development over the lifespan. The purpose of the present study was to examine the ways in which gays and lesbians cope with stress in their lives, including the potential contribution of leisure to stress-coping. A series of focus groups were conducted with gays and lesbians (n = 30) in a western Canadian city to explore their lived experiences and meanings of coping. The findings suggest that the use of effective coping methods is a survival technique in their lives. The key themes identified are concerned with a wide range of coping techniques—personal, social, behavioral, psychological, attitudinal, spiritual, and cultural. These findings emphasize the importance of using the strengths and resilience of gays and lesbians in coping with stress. Particularly, our data suggested that a leisure space is considered an oasis for gays and lesbians to re-charge themselves physically, emotionally, and psychologically, which facilitates a sense of empowerment to proactively cope with stress in a world where homophobia and heterosexism still exist.