Abstract In this paper we explore how personality and gender influence how individuals cope with illness. Unsurprisingly, illness has a negative effect on an individual's health satisfaction, but the strength differs by gender, personality and the presence of multiple physical illnesses. Men with multiple physical illnesses are more adversely affected than those with a single physical illness; women are not. Women with high levels of agreeableness or low levels of conscientiousness are less adversely affected by the incidence of mental illness than typical women. We find no evidence that personality matters for how men cope with illness.