Aging with trauma across the lifetime and experiencing trauma in old age: Vulnerability and resilience intertwined. In K. E. Cherry (Ed.), Traumatic stress and long-term recovery: Coping with disasters and other negative life events (pp. 293-308). Springer.

This study examined the associations between personality traits and psychological and behavioural responses to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic. Personality was assessed in January/February 2020 when the public was not aware of the spread of coronavirus in the USA. Participants were reassessed in late March 2020 with four sets of questions about the pandemic: concerns, precautions, preparatory behaviours, and duration estimates. The sample consisted of N = 2066 participants (mean age = 51.42; range = 18–98; 48.5% women). Regression models were used to analyse the data with age, gender, education, race, and ethnicity as covariates. Consistent with the preregistered hypotheses, higher neuroticism was related to more concerns and longer duration estimates related to COVID‐19, higher extraversion was related to shorter duration estimates, and higher conscientiousness was associated with more precautions. In contrast to the preregistered hypotheses, higher neuroticism was associated with fewer precautions and unrelated to preparatory behaviours. Age moderated several trait–response associations, suggesting that some of the responses were associated more strongly in older adults, a group at risk for complications of COVID‐19. For example, older adults high in conscientiousness prepared more. The present findings provide insights into how personality predicts concerns and behaviours related to the COVID‐19 pandemic. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology

The rapid spread of the coronavirus and the strategies to slow it have disrupted just about every aspect of our lives. Such disruption may be reflected in changes in psychological function. The present study used a pre-posttest design to test whether Five Factor Model personality traits changed with the coronavirus outbreak in the United States. Participants (N = 2,137) were tested in early February 2020 and again during the President's 15 Days to Slow the Spread guidelines. In contrast to the preregistered hypotheses, Neuroticism decreased across these six weeks, particularly the facets of Anxiety and Depression, and Conscientiousness did not change. Interestingly, there was some evidence that the rapid changes in the social context had changed the meaning of an item. Specifically, an item about going to work despite being sick was a good indicator of conscientiousness before COVID-19, but the interpretation of it changed with the pandemic. In sum, the unexpected small decline in Neuroticism suggests that, during the acute phase of the coronavirus outbreak, feelings of anxiety and distress may be attributed more to the pandemic than to one's personality.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly contagious and potentially fatal infectious disease that has swept the globe. To reduce the spread, it is important to engage in preventive behaviors recommended by health authorities, such as washing your hands, wearing a face mask, and social distancing.Aim: In the present study, we draw from the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to examine the associations between perceived behavioral control, attitudes, and subjective norm and whether people engage in eight different preventive behaviors.Methods: For each of the preventive behaviors (washing hands; using hand sanitizer; not touching your face; social distancing; wearing a face mask; disinfecting surfaces; coughing in your elbow; staying home if sick), we conducted separate logistic regressions predicting whether the participants (N = 2,256; age range = 18–98 years) reported engaging in the behavior from their perceived behavioral control, attitudes, and subjective norm.Results: We found that perceived behavioral control, attitudes, and subjective norm had independent significant associations with each preventive behavior. Moderation analyses revealed that for most behaviors the associations with perceived behavioral control were stronger for older adults than for younger adults.Limitation: The present study was cross-sectional; future longitudinal studies and interventions are needed to disentangle directionality.Conclusion: Our findings suggest several ways to increase adherence to health behaviors that reduce the spread of coronavirus and other infectious diseases.

No abstract