Dr. DOS SANTOS Luis Miguel, LouisLouisDr. DOS SANTOS Luis Miguel2026-05-292026-05-292026Dos Santos, L. M. (2026). Gay men who married women: Sociocultural stress and resilience. In Hong Kong Shue Yan University (Ed.). Conference proceeding of international conference on human resilience: Navigating life changes & challenges (HRCONF2026). International Conference on Human Resilience: Navigating Life Changes & Challenges (HRCONF2026), Hong Kong Shue Yan University (pp. 58). Hong Kong Shue Yan University.http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11861/27282Due to sociocultural expectations and traditions, Chinese men need to get married and become fathers in order to carry their family names forward. This sociocultural requirement forms significant challenges for gay men exploring between personal identities and familial obligations. The purpose of this study is to explore the lived experiences, decisions, and sense-making processes of gay men who married women in Hong Kong, together with their resilience in the East Asian sociocultural context. Through qualitative research design with individual interviews, focus group activity, and member-checking interviews, 10 gay married men were invited to share their experiences and resilience strategies. The results indicated that (1) establishing hidden relationships between other gay partners, (2) finding male sex workers, and (3) refusing sexual activities with their wives are some of the strategies to maintain their marriages and positive mental health status within these marriages and relationships. This study addresses significant research gaps in understanding how gay men in mixed-orientation marriages handle their mental health and relationships within sociocultural-specific pressures. The findings discover important information for mental health professionals developing sociocultural sensitive approaches to supporting sexual minorities experiencing traditional family expectations in East Asian contexts.enGay MenGay Men Who Married WomenHong KongQualitativeResilienceConference Paper