Name: Deepak Kumar
Country: India

Year: 2025
Volume: Volume-15, Issue-2, (July-December)
Page Number: 263-269
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18067767

Indian youth experience growing psychological stress due to academic pressure, employment uncertainty, digital saturation, and changing social expectations. Coping strategies play a crucial role in moderating the impact of stress, yet limited Indian research has examined coping through the combined lens of gender and residential locale. This study compares coping strategies among four groups of Indian youth – urban males, urban females, rural males, and rural females – using a cross-sectional design. A sample of 400 participants (100 per subgroup), aged 18–24 years, completed the Brief COPE Inventory and the Perceived Stress Scale. Data were analysed using two-way ANOVA and correlation techniques. Results indicate that urban females report higher approach-orientated and social support coping, rural males rely more on avoidance coping, and rural females demonstrate stronger religious/meaning-focused coping. Avoidance coping is positively associated with perceived stress, whereas approac