Change in five-factor model personality traits during the acute phase of the coronavirus pandemic

Abstract

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.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward COVID-19 among university students in Japan and associated factors: An online cross-sectional survey

“…These countermeasures were remarkable, while their effectiveness depended on the knowledge, attitudes, and preventative practices (KAP) toward COVID-19 among citizens, according to KAP theory and previous experiences [ 5 , 6 ]. Meanwhile, countermeasures dramatically converted citizens’ lifestyles and daily behaviors, and thus change in the mental health, well-being, and psychological impacts related to COVID-19 have also been highlighted and investigated [ 7 , 8 ]. For example, a large-scale international survey to analyze citizens’ mental well-being at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic [ 9 ] and a large-scale international survey to evaluate the students’ well-being have been conducted [ 10 , 11 ].…”

The role of personality in the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of students in Germany during the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic

“…How did young adults think, feel, and behave during the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic? Psychological research suggests that individuals can differ considerably in their ways of handling this challenging new situation [2] and that these individual differences could be partially explained by the Big Five personality traits openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Investigating the role of the Big Five personality traits in students' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors during the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic is crucial not only for our understanding of human behavior, but also for applied research on targeted interventions to fight COVID-19 and associated unfavorable consequences [11][12][13].…”

Does personality predict responses to the COVID-19 crisis? Evidence from a prospective large-scale study

“…On the other hand, our prospective research design, whereby personality was assessed almost three years prior to the outcomes, brought with it the risk that some slight personality changes may indeed have occurred in the meantime, thereby lowering the amount of explainable variance. In addition, changes in personality might have occurred as a result of the pandemic (see Sutin et al, 2020) that were directly related to the outcomes, thereby increasing the associations.…”