Previous research has not shown any link between widespread stressful events such as earthquakes and hurricanes and personality changes. Yet the COVID-19 pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of life and the world.
The new study used longitudinal personality tests of 7,109 adults who participated in the online Understanding America Study. They looked at the five-factor model personality traits in pre-pandemic (May 2014-February 2020) and early (March-December 2020) or post-pandemic (2021-2022) assessments — Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Sociability, and Consciousness. A total of 18,623 reviews were analyzed, with an average rating of 2.62 per participant. Of these, 41.2 percent of the participants were men, ranging in age from 18 to 109.
Consistent with other research, there was relatively little change in personality traits before the pandemic and in 2020, with only a small decrease in neuroticism. However, when the 2021-2022 data were compared to pre-pandemic personalities, extraversion, openness, gregariousness, and self-awareness all declined. These changes are about 1/10 of the standard deviation, which corresponds to about a decade of normal personality changes. These changes are affected by age. The results showed that younger adults showed disruptions in maturity, manifested by increased neuroticism and decreased desirability and self-consciousness, while the oldest group of adults showed no statistically significant changes in characteristics.
If these changes are durable, it suggests that population-wide stressful events can slightly bend personality trajectories, especially among young adults, the researchers concluded.
They also added: “In the early days of the pandemic, personality changes were limited, but from 2021 onwards, there have been dramatic changes. Most notably, young adults showed the greatest changes in personality, with a marked increase in neuroticism, while gregariousness and self-awareness Sexuality declined. That is, younger adults became more moody, more stressful, less cooperative, less trusting, less binding and less responsible.”