The stress and strain distributions in adhesive lap joints of dissimilar hollow shafts subjected to an axial load have been examined using the axisymmetric theory of elasticity. In the analysis, the joint is modelled as an elastic three-body contact problem and the hollow shafts and the adhesive are replaced by finite hollow cylinders. In the numerical calculations, the effects of the ratio of Young＇s modulus of the adhesive to that of the shaft and of the thickness of the adhesive on the stress distributions at the interfaces in the joint are clarified. It is shown that the stresses in the radial and circumferential directions become singular at the ends of the interfaces and that the stress increases near the ends of the interfaces with a decrease of Young＇s modulus of the shaft and with an increase of the thickness of the adhesive. For verification of the stress analysis, the strain distribution at the outer surface of the outer hollow shaft of the joint was measured and satisfactory agreement was shown by comparing the experimental results with the analytical predictions.