The major personality traits are considered to remain relatively stable over most of a person’s adult life but can be influenced by stressful personal events.A recent study found changes in the expression of personality traits during the COVID-19 pandemic in a nationally representative sample.The findings suggest that younger people were more susceptible to changes in personality traits, showing a decline in conscientiousness, agreeableness, and an increase in neuroticism.These results suggest that, in addition to stressful personal events, global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic could potentially lead to changes in personality traits.Previous studies have shown that levels of neuroticism declined during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. A new study published in PLOS One found that these changes in neuroticism were short-lived and normalized later in the pandemic in 2021-2022. However, other personality traits such as agreeableness, openness, extraversion, and conscientiousness declined during the later stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021-2022. The study found that younger individuals were especially susceptible to changes in personality traits during the pandemic, suggesting a disruption of the personality development and maturation process that normally occurs during young adulthood.Medical News Today spoke with Dr. Brent Roberts, a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.“It is quite significant from a theoretical perspective to know that global events, like the pandemic, might have the effect of changing personality, which is often thought to be fixed and impervious to change,” Dr. Roberts said. “It is also of potential pragmatic value, as from an epidemiological standpoint, the changes over the long run, being somewhat negative and centered on young a …
Did the COVID-19 pandemic lead to changes in our personality traits? – Medical News Today
