TY  - EJOU
AU  - Liu, Chao 
AU  - Liu, Sihang 
AU  - Chen, Hao 
AU  - Tsai, -Hsuan 

TI  - Positive Resilience on the Margins: The Structural Stigma of China’s Rural Queer Community and the Path of Self-Confirmation
T2  - International Journal of Mental Health Promotion

PY  - 
VL  - 
IS  - 
SN  - 2049-8543

AB  - <b>Backgrounds:</b> Positive psychology has increasingly been applied to marginalized populations, yet limited attention has been paid to how it explains the experiences of sexual minorities living under persistent structural stigma in non-Western rural contexts. This study examined the structural pressures, psychological dilemmas, and positive resilience pathways of sexual minorities in rural China. This study aims to examine the structural pressures, psychological dilemmas, and pathways of positive resilience experienced by sexual minorities in rural China under persistent structural stigma. <b>Methods:</b> Using cyberethnography and grounded theory, this study analyzed 264 publicly available online narratives selected from an initial pool of 8663 social media texts retrieved from major Chinese online platforms. The data were analyzed through open, axial, and selective coding to identify the relationships among structural stress, psychological consequences, and recovery-oriented resources. <b>Results:</b> Three major sources of structural pressure were identified: community surveillance, family discipline, and institutional neglect. These pressures were associated with four principal forms of psychological consequence: internalized stigma, self-stress imbalance, relationship anxiety, and barriers to help-seeking. At the same time, the narratives revealed three interrelated forms of positive resilience: relational support and belonging, self-acceptance through meaning reconstruction, and emotional regulation and recovery. <b>Conclusions:</b> The findings suggest that the mental health of sexual minorities in rural China is shaped not only by persistent structural oppression but also by limited yet meaningful resources for self-repair and psychological resilience. By identifying how positive resilience is sustained under long-term stigma, this study extends the relevance of positive psychology to a non-Western marginalized context and highlights the importance of culturally grounded, community-sensitive mental health support.
KW  - Sexual minorities; positive psychology; rural areas; emotional intervention

DO  - 10.32604/ijmhp.2026.080509