Introverts' moods improved during the pandemic while extroverts' did not

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-03-23 11:23

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Extroverted people struggled during the early COVID-19 pandemic, while introverted people seemed to have a blast, according to US researchers who surveyed 484 uni students early in the pandemic. Students completed a personality test at the beginning of the semester disrupted by COVID-19, then completed daily ratings of mood, perceived stress levels and self-care activities such as exercise, mindfulness, and sleep throughout the semester. The researchers found that mood and wellness scores generally declined but stress levels decreased. Interestingly, those who were extroverted saw decreases in mood as the pandemic progressed, while introverted people saw an improvement in mood. Lower stress and higher participation in health promotion activities were also associated with particular personality traits, including lower levels of neuroticism, higher extraversion, higher agreeableness and higher conscientiousness.

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Journal/
conference: PLOS One

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine, USA

Funder: This work was supported by a grant to Dr. Jim Hudziak from the Conrad Hilton Foundation (https://www.hiltonfoundation.org/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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