From Wounds to Wings: Lived Experiences of Bullying and Resilience Among LGBTQ+ Students in Tacloban City
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19012910Keywords:
LGBTQ+ students, school bullying, resilience, minority stress, phenomenology, coping strategies, inclusive educationAbstract
This study explored the lived experiences of bullying and resilience among LGBTQ+ senior high school students in Tacloban City, Philippines. Grounded in the descriptivism paradigm and employing a transcendental phenomenological research design, the study aimed to understand how LGBTQ+ students experience bullying and construct resilience within the context of their everyday school lives. The inquiry was anchored in Lazarus and Folkman’s Transactional Model of Stress and Coping, Masten’s Resilience Theory, and Meyer’s Minority Stress Theory, which collectively guided the interpretation of how sexual and gender minority students navigate stressors related to discrimination and victimization. Using purposive sampling, fourteen (14) LGBTQ+ senior high school students aged 15–18 from Sto. Niño Senior High School in Tacloban City participated in the study. Data were gathered through in-depth interviews that enabled participants to narrate their personal experiences of bullying in various forms, including verbal bullying, physical bullying, social or relational bullying, and cyberbullying. Through the transcendental phenomenological approach, the researcher bracketed personal assumptions in order to focus on the essence of the participants lived experiences. The study also examined the coping strategies utilized by students, the perceived challenges and impacts of bullying on their emotional and academic lives, their manifestations of resistance, and the support systems that contributed to their resilience and recovery. Findings revealed that LGBTQ+ students encountered multiple forms of bullying often rooted in prejudice toward their sexual orientation and gender identity. Despite these adversities, many participants demonstrated resilience through adaptive coping mechanisms and the presence of protective support systems such as peer acceptance, teacher encouragement, and family affirmation. These factors significantly contributed to the students’ psychological well-being, sense of belonging, and capacity to recover from adverse experiences. By amplifying the voices of LGBTQ+ learners often underrepresented in educational research, the study offers insights that may inform inclusive school policies, culturally responsive counseling interventions, and targeted support programs that promote safer and more supportive learning environments for LGBTQ+ students in the Philippine educational context.
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