Janice Ristock

Voices from the Margins: Stress, Active Living, and Leisure as a Contributor to Coping with Stress

Stress is one byproduct of hectic and busy lives. Therefore, examining active living and leisure in relation to stress and coping offers an important area of study. This paper presents key findings from a multi-year qualitative study of stress and coping. A series of focus groups were conducted with diverse residents of a western Canadian city including: (a) Aboriginal individuals with diabetes, (b) individuals with disabilities, and (c) people who identified as gay or lesbian. The findings emphasized that active leisure is more than physical activity, and that less physical forms of leisure should not be undervalued in the conceptualization of active living and leisure. Coping with stress using active leisure encompassed a wide range of meanings (e.g., spiritual, social, cultural, altruistic, empowerment).

The Elevated Risk for Non-Lethal Post-Separation Violence in Canada A Comparison of Separated, Divorced, and Married Women

The purpose of the study was to shed light on the potentially differing dynamics of violence against separated and divorced women by their ex-husbands and violence against married women by their current husbands. Using a nationally representative sample of 7,369 heterosexual women from Cycle 13 of Statistics Canadas General Social Survey, available risk markers were examined in the context of a nested ecological framework. Separated women reported nine times the prevalence of violence and divorced women reported about four times the prevalence of violence compared with married women. The strongest predictors of violence against married women, namely, patriarchal domination, sexual jealousy, and possessiveness, were not significant predictors of violence against separated and divorced women. This suggested that post-separation violence is a complex phenomenon the dynamics of which can be affected by much more than domination and ownership.

The nature of stress experienced by lesbians and gay men

Abstract This study examined both the meanings and sources/causes of stress from the perspectives of lesbians and gay men (n=30), using a series of focus groups. The findings suggest that stress is considered a part of life itself, and is perceived to contain both negative (e.g. detrimental effects on health and overall functioning, unfairness, out-of-control), and positive (e.g. a motivator, growth-facilitator) elements. The sources/causes of stress (i.e. stressors) identified include stress experienced from the “coming out” process, stress in family relations and intimate relationships, conflict over ones sexuality given societys homophobic and heterosexist attitudes toward lesbians and gay men, as well as stress from financial and work-related issues. More importantly, this study suggests that culture/ethnicity, gender, and aging, which are interconnected with ones sexual identity, play an important role in shaping the experiences of stress among lesbians and gay men.

Social Exclusion and Resilience as Frameworks of Stress and Coping among Selected Non-dominant Groups

Despite the growth of stress and coping research and its implications for health policy and practice, one major gap in this research area is that its conceptualizations and measurements are mostly ethnocentric, and give limited attention to the diversity of our society. As a step towards bridging this gap, the purpose of the present study was to reveal lay peoples views and perspectives on lived experiences and the meanings of stress and coping with stress among selected non-dominant groups of individuals (n = 78) in a Western Canadian city. The frameworks of social exclusion and resilience were used conceptually and analytically to ground the examination and synthesize findings about stress and coping across three target groups: Aboriginal individuals with diabetes, individuals with disabilities, and gays and lesbians. As qualitative methods, focus groups were employed as the data collection technique, and phenomenology as an analytic framework. Overall, findings highlighted the interconnected nature of various aspects of social exclusion (for example, economic exclusion, institutional exclusion, cultural exclusion) that reflect the stressful lives of participants unique to their disadvantaged and vulnerable positions in society, mostly due to the prevalence of poverty, poor living conditions, discrimination and oppression, as well as unbalanced/unequal power relations in society. The findings also suggest that human strengths and resilience are core elements of stress-coping which encompass a wide range of valued meanings such as social or collective, spiritual, cultural, attitudinal and transformative/developmental. These findings imply the need for a more culturally or sub-culturally appropriate approach to health policies and practices in order to support people (particularly non-dominant and often marginalized groups) in effectively addressing life adversities/stresses and enabling proactive and culturally relevant coping.

Violence Against Separated, Divorced, and Married Women in Canada, 2004

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine violence against separated, divorced, and married women using Statistics Canadas 2004 General Social Survey. Based on a subsample of 6,716 heterosexual women (429 separated; 614 divorced; 5,673 married), available risk markers were examined in the context of a nested ecological framework. Consistent with past research, the results indicated that there may be differences in the dynamics of violence across the 3 groups. Separated women reported 7 times the prevalence of violence and divorced women reported twice the prevalence of violence than married women in the year prior to the study. Young age was an important predictor of violence for separated and divorced women. Unemployment and the presence of children of the ex-partner were important predictors for divorced women. Patriarchal domineering and sexually proprietary behaviors were strong predictors of violence for married women. The results suggested the possibility that motives for postseparation violence tend to differ depending on whether one is separated or divorced. Future research is warranted to uncover these potentially differing dynamics of risk.

Coping with stress among gays and lesbians: Implications for human development over the lifespan

Abstract Gays and lesbians are at risk of being exposed to high levels of stress because of their marginalized social identities and social locations in dominant cultures. Given the prevalence and significance of stress in the lives of gays and lesbians regardless of their age, stress-coping is one of the key axes of their development over the lifespan. The purpose of the present study was to examine the ways in which gays and lesbians cope with stress in their lives, including the potential contribution of leisure to stress-coping. A series of focus groups were conducted with gays and lesbians (n = 30) in a western Canadian city to explore their lived experiences and meanings of coping. The findings suggest that the use of effective coping methods is a survival technique in their lives. The key themes identified are concerned with a wide range of coping techniques—personal, social, behavioral, psychological, attitudinal, spiritual, and cultural. These findings emphasize the importance of using the strengths and resilience of gays and lesbians in coping with stress. Particularly, our data suggested that a leisure space is considered an oasis for gays and lesbians to re-charge themselves physically, emotionally, and psychologically, which facilitates a sense of empowerment to proactively cope with stress in a world where homophobia and heterosexism still exist.

Feminist Links, Postmodern Interruptions: Critical Pedagogy and Social Work

Postmodern perspectives can constructively interrupt conventional views as long as social workers remain linked to feminist and other intersecting emancipatory movements. This article deconstructs the dichotomy between science and practice and presents a class exercise to illustrate how an analysis of feminist links–postmodern interruptions can promote a self-critical and proactive education in foundation courses for largely female students in historically marginalized regions of Canada and the United States.

Pride and prejudice: factors affecting school attachment among lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual girls.

School attachment is often regarded as a key measure in gauging the integration and wellbeing of students. Previous research suggests that levels of school attachment are generally lower among sexual minority students, but most studies focus on between-gender comparisons and do not conduct within-gender analyses. Using data from the First National Climate Survey on Homophobia and Transphobia in Canadian schools, this study set out to empirically analyze what, if any, differences exist among lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual female students when assessing the relationship between homophobic and gender-negative language, feelings of safety, harassment/direct victimization, and school climate on school attachment. Bivariate and multivariate findings suggest that there are key differences among female students in terms of school attachment.

Foreword: Lesbian Studies in Canada

We are very pleased to guest edit this special issue of the Journal of Lesbian Studies with a focus on lesbians and lesbian studies in Canada. We dedicate this issue to the many activist-scholars who bravely shaped the field through their groundbreaking work at a time when a focus on lesbians could jeopardize job candidacy and tenure and promotion prospects and when being out as a lesbian in a university setting was not a solidly protected right. We acknowledge the work of women like Jeri Dawn Wine, a community psychologist who studied lesbians in academe (1983); Sharon Dale Stone, a sociologist who edited the first collection of lesbian studies in Canada (1990); Didi Khayatt who wrote about lesbian teachers in Canada (1992); and Becki Ross who documented the history of lesbian feminist organizing in Toronto (1995). These works and many others (including the work of scholars such as Mariana Valverde, Kathleen Martindale, Mary Louise Adams, and Makeda Silvera) were vital for establishing and legitimizing a space in which lesbians could be the focus and where our understandings of the intersections of gender, sexuality, disability, race, and class deepened to inform our organizing efforts as well as our academic work. This early work made important contributions to the social, cultural, and historical study of the production and regulation of women’s sexuality as well as to key debates about representation, identities, and exclusionary practices. When we consider the context of Canada in 2014, we are indeed in a different era. Formal legal equality on all fronts has largely been achieved and is guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Supreme Court of Canada decided in 1995 that the equality guarantees of the Charter applied to discrimination claims based on sexual orientation because sexual orientation was analogous to the explicitly listed grounds of race, religion,