Social Coping of Gifted and LGBTQ Adolescents

This qualitative study used critical ethnography as a theoretical framework to investigate the social coping strategies of gifted and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students in middle and high school. Twelve LGBTQ college students from a selective Southeastern university were interviewed and asked to retrospectively describe their experiences, feelings, and behaviors from middle to high school. Their most common coping strategies included finding supportive groups of friends; hiding or downplaying their LGBTQ identity; participating in extracurricular activities; confiding in supportive teachers; developing their writing, musical, and leadership talents; and conducting research to understand and develop their identity. The implications of this study can help educators guide students in the use of positive coping strategies that facilitate both talent and identity development for this socially and politically marginalized group of gifted students.