Personality traits, long considered stable in adulthood, shifted during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly among younger people. A study in PLOS One examined data from over 7,000 U.S. adults who completed personality assessments before and during the crisis.
Results showed declines in conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness, along with a rise in neuroticism. The most noticeable changes occurred in 2021 and 2022.
Younger adults under 30 experienced the largest shifts. Their neuroticism increased, while agreeableness and conscientiousness dropped more sharply. Older adults proved more resilient, with their traits largely returning to pre-pandemic levels by 2021-2022.
The magnitude of these shifts resembled changes typically seen over a decade of normal adult development. The findings suggest the pandemic may have disrupted or accelerated the usual maturation process.
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Medical News Today spoke with Dr. Brent Roberts, a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He called the results significant.
The study had limitations. The sample size for minoritized ethnic groups was small, and data came only from U.S. residents. The observational design also meant causation couldn’t be proven.
Another question remains: whether the shifts are permanent. More assessments are needed to determine if the effects last.
The five-factor model of personality—extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness—has long described human behavior. Though these traits stabilize in adulthood, they can shift gradually with age or major life events. Earlier research on collective traumas, such as natural disasters, found little impact on personality. The pandemic, however, was unprecedented in scale and duration, affecting nearly every aspect of daily life.
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Early reports in 2020 suggested some highly neurotic individuals felt temporary relief as routines simplified. The data now indicates those effects were short-lived.
While the findings raise concerns, they also show personality’s adaptability. Older adults exhibited minimal long-term changes, suggesting resilience may grow with age. For younger adults, the disruption arrived at a critical developmental stage when traits typically solidify.
An active lifestyle has been linked to better cognitive health, which may help counter some of these effects.
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