Abstract The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship of coping strategies with mental health in Iranian and Indian students. The sample of this study is comprised of 800 university students, 400 students from Iran (University of Sistan and Baluchestan), and 400 students from India (Aligarh Muslim University). Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) by Endler and Parker (1990) and General Health Questionairre-28 (GHQ) by Goldberg and Hillier (1979) were administered on the subjects. Correlation and step-wise multiple regression are used to evaluate the research hypotheses. Significantly negative correlation was found between problem focused coping strategies and mental health (GHQ-total), significantly positive correlation was found between emotion focused coping strategies and mental health with 99% confidence but avoidance-focused coping strategies was not significantly correlated with mental health among students. Step-wise multiple regression analyses revealed that emotion-focused coping strategies was first, and problem-focused coping strategies was second important predictor of mental health, but avoidance–focused coping strategies was not a predictor of mental health.
