Resilience in the Study of Minority Stress and Health of Sexual and Gender Minorities

Research in various populations has shown that, starting early in childhood, individuals often demonstrate resilience in the face of stress and adversity. Against the experience of minority stress, LGBT people mount coping responses and most survive and even thrive despite stress. But research on resilience in LGBT populations has lagged. In this commentary, I address 2 broad issues that I have found wanting of special exploration in LGBT research on resilience: First, I note that resilience, like coping, is inherently related to minority stress in that it is an element of the stress model. Understanding resilience as a partner in the stress to illness causal chain is essential for LGBT health research. Second, I explore individualversus community-based resilience in the context of minority stress. Although individual and community resilience should be seen as part of a continuum of resilience, it is important to recognize the significance of community resilience in the context of minority stress.