Has the pandemic changed our personality?

by time news

Despite the long-standing hypothesis that personality traits are relatively impervious to environmental pressures, the Covid-19 pandemic may have altered the personality path in the US, especially in younger adults, according to a study published this week in the open access journal “Plos One” by Angelina Sutin of the Florida State University School of Medicine.

Previous studies have generally found no relationship between collective stressful events – such as earthquakes and hurricanes – and personality changes. However, the coronavirus pandemic has affected the entire world and almost all aspects of life.

In the new work, the researchers assessed the personality of 7.109 personas enrolled in the online study Understanding America Study.

They compared personality traits from the five-factor model –neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness– between pre-pandemic measurements (May 2014 – February 2020) and assessments made early (March – December 2020) or after (2021-2022) the pandemic. A total of 18,623 evaluations were analyzed, or an average of 2.62 per participant. 41.2% of the participants were men and their age ranged between 18 and 109 years.

Younger adults showed altered maturity in the form of increased neuroticism

Consistent with other studies, there was relatively little change between pre-pandemic and 2020 personality traits, with only a small decline in neuroticism.

However, declines in extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness occurred when data from 2021-2022 were compared to pre-pandemic personality. The changes were about a tenth of a standard deviation, which is equivalent to about a decade of normative personality change.

Changes were moderated by age, with younger adults showing altered maturity in the form of increased neuroticism and decreased agreeableness and conscientiousness, and the older group of adults showing no statistically significant changes in traits.

The authors conclude that, if these changes are long-lasting, they suggest that stressful events that affect the entire population may slightly modify the trajectory of personality, especially in younger adults.

“There have been limited changes in personality early in the pandemic, but striking changes from 2021. Most notably, the personality of young adults changed the most, with marked increases in neuroticism and decreases in kindness and awareness. That is, younger adults became moodier and more stress-prone, less cooperative and trusting, and less restrained and responsible.”

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