Strategies Employed by Sexual Minority Adolescents to Cope With Minority Stress

Sexual minority adolescents (SMA) experience disparities in health and behavioral health outcomes, including high rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, substance use, HIV risk behavior, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts. These outcomes are commonly attributed to minority stress. Stress experiences are different for SMA than their adult counterparts. For example, disclosing their sexual orientation may be more likely to result in homelessness because these youth more often live with parents or other family members. Although stress in this population has been explored in previous research, very little is known about how SMA cope. Relying on an adolescent coping model, this study examined the coping strategies, responses, and resources of SMA related to stress. Forty-eight racially and ethnically diverse SMA (age 14 –19) were recruited for 90-min tape-recorded interviews. The semistructured interviews were guided by a life history calendar. Recordings were transcribed verbatim and entered into QSR NVivo. All transcripts were coded by 2 members of the research team and went through a consensus process. Forty-three unique coping statements emerged that fit with the Compas model of adolescent coping. SMA cope with minority stress in similar ways to heterosexual youth coping with general stress, but findings suggest that SMA may also use different kinds of coping resources. Although further research is needed, the present study identified a variety of ways SMA cope with stress and can inform future research on the development interventions.