This cross-cultural research study aimed to explore the relationship of stress and coping with psychological illness or symptoms among university students in Canada and India. The predictor variables were stress (hassles and life experience), 8 ways of coping (Folkman & Lazarus, 1988), and selected personal-social variables, namely, locus of control, self-esteem, and social support. The criterion variables were 9 psychological symptoms of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI; Derogatis & Spencer, 1982). The results revealed that the Indian students reported more psychological symptoms compared to the Canadian students. Stepwise multiple-regression analyses also revealed considerable differences between the 2 samples with respect to the contribution of predictor variables in accounting for variance in the BSI scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]