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OBJECTIVE To examine interactions between demographic, pain, urinary, psychological and environmental predictors of quality of life (QOL) in men with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS). PATIENTS AND METHODS In all, 253 men previously enrolled in the National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Cohort study in North American tertiary-care clinical centres (six in the USA and one in Canada) self-reported with validated instruments, including the QOL subscales of the Short Form-12 (physical, SF12-PCS; and mental, SF12-MCS), demographics, urinary symptoms, depression, current pain, pain coping, ‘catastrophising’ (catastrophic thinking about pain), pain control, social support and solicitous responses from a partner. Data were collected through a one-time survey. Covariates determined to be significant were entered into a multivariable regression model predicting SF12-PCS and SF12-MCS. RESULTS Adjusting for covariates, regression models showed that poorer SF12-PCS scores were predicted by worse urinary function ( P < 0.001) and increased use of pain-contingent resting as a coping strategy ( P = 0.026). Further, poorer SF12-MCS scores were predicted by greater pain catastrophizing ( P = 0.002) and lower perceptions of social support ( P< 0.001). In separate follow-up analyses, helplessness was the significant catastrophizing subscale ( P < 0.001), while support from family and friends were the significant social support subscales ( P = 0.002 and <0.001). CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that specific coping and environmental factors (i.e. catastrophizing, pain-contingent resting, social support) are significant in understanding how patients with CP/CPPS adjust. These data can be used to develop specific cognitive-behavioural programmes for men with CP/CPPS who are refractory to standard medical therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]