Little attention has been given to research focusing on stress, coping, and their relation to body image for female collegiate endurance athletes. Beginning with a historical overview of the female collegiate athlete experience, the current study then implemented a synthesis of diverse research and theory to frame these relationships. Specifically, the present inquiry was informed by two broad categories of literature that complemented each other to provide a framework through which stress, coping, and body image for female collegiate endurance athletes was explored. The categories focused on for this study included: (1) stress and coping and (2) body image. The study used the Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping to help conceptualize the dynamic interplay between stress and coping. Additionally, embodiment and disembodiment were used as frameworks to center body image in the study. The purpose of this social constructivist narrative inquiry was to explore the lived experiences of female collegiate endurance athletes' stress and coping and their relationship with and understanding of body image. Two research questions guided this study: (a) How do female collegiate endurance athletes use coping mechanisms in stressful situations?; and (b) How does body image relate to coping in stressful situations for female collegiate endurance athletes? This study used a social constructivist paradigmatic perspective and narrative inquiry methodological perspective. Both were well suited for this topic as they demonstrated the female collegiate endurance athletes' experiences as lived stories (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) and emphasized the individuals' interaction with the larger social world around them (Clandinin & Rosiek, 2007). The main data collection happened in the form of life history-like interviews, which helped gain an understanding of individual events within the contexts of broader life experiences (Adriansen, 2012). Furthermore, life history interviews engaged the narrator and researcher in joint sense making of the stories (Ellis et al., 1997; Cole & Knowles, 2001; Jones et al., 2014), which continued to emphasize a main aspect of narrative inquiry, co-construction. Journal responses were used as another data collection point. To focus on what was being told in the story, rather than how the stories were organized or developed, dialogical narrative analysis was used to analyze the data (Schwandt, 2007).The outcome of this analytic procedure were narrative experiences of stress, coping, and body image for four female collegiate endurance athletes. The stories share commonalities that address the above-mentioned research questions of this study. Employing a three-part chronological manner that utilized Schlossberg's Transition Framework (Schlossberg et al., 1995), the stories illuminated these female collegiate endurance athletes used coping mechanisms as comfort, control, and with intentionality in stressful situations. With regards to body image, the narrators coped with stressful situations through social discourse around body image. Furthermore, narrators used social discourse around body image to cope with stressful situations through observational learning, comparison, and reimagining conversations about the body. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]