Stress and coping among students in India and Canada

In this cross-cultural study of stress and coping, students in India (n = 1 98) and Canada (n = 344) were compared with respect to stress, coping, and selected psychosocial variables, namely, locus of control, self-esteem, lif e orientation (optimism-pessimism). and social support. The two main hypoth eses postulated that, compared to the Canadian students, Indian students wo uld experience more stress and would prefer emotion-focused coping strategi es for dealing with stress. It was also predicted that the Indian students would have an external locus of control, low self-esteem, pessimistic life orientation, and greater social support satisfaction. The results reveal in stead that the Indian students report less stress than the Canadian student s and prefer emotion-focused coping strategies. The Indian students score h igher on chance control, but are similar to the Canadian students on powerf ul others and internal control. The Indian students are less satisfied with social support than are their Canadian counterparts.