This study examined the relationship between stress, appraised control, and coping and depressive mood in 425 human immunodeficiency virus-positive and -negative gay men in San Francisco. Depressive mood was assessed by self-report in 1988 and 1989. Participants were also surveyed in 1989 on the stress in their lives, their appraised control over the stress, and the ways they coped. Depressive mood in 1988 and symptoms of human immunodeficiency virus disease in 1989 accounted for 50% of the variance in 1989 depressive mood; stress, appraised control, and coping accounted for an additional 10% of the variance in depressive mood in 1989. Path analysis indicated: stress appraised as controllable was associated with involvement coping, which in turn was associated with diminished depressive mood; stress associated with detachment was associated with increased depressive mood; and stress was also directly associated with increased depressive mood.