Multiple factors dictate how well we have, or have not, coped with Covid lockdowns:
🎂Age
💼Employment
🤧Infection
But several studies suggest that our personalities also play a huge role
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Scholars break down personality traits into five main bundles:
➡️Degree of extroversion
➡️Openness
➡️Agreeableness
➡️Conscientiousness
➡️Neuroticism
It’s the combination of these traits that shape resilience
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One study found that introverts in lockdown reported improvements over time in their mood, whereas the extroverts said their mood got worse.
But the extroverts were still in a better mood overall, thanks to their more cheerful default position trib.al/UIMf2z2
During lockdown, introversion was clearly associated with more:
🙇🏻♀️Loneliness
😟Anxiety
🙍🏾♂️Depression
That may be partly because introverts can’t get respite when they’re stuck with housemates or family members. As one introvert joked:
But other traits appear more important. Neuroticism, for example, was strongly correlated with more anxiety and worse depression.
People who worry even in normal times are also at heightened risk of freaking out when a deadly virus is making the rounds trib.al/UIMf2z2
Openness was also associated with increased anxiety. This trait includes abstract, creative and lateral thinking.
Very open minds are also better at imagining all the things that could go wrong trib.al/UIMf2z2
Agreeability helped against both anxiety and depression, but not as much as you might think.
It may mainly boost the positive effects of extroversion, improving the quality of human connections, which is more comforting in bad times than sheer quantity trib.al/UIMf2z2
The winners are the more conscientious people around us. The most self-disciplined were also the least anxious and depressed when stuck at home.
These people are better at having routines that provide structure during endless days of remote work & school trib.al/UIMf2z2
Conscientiousness or self-discipline helps in every other way:
🧘🏽It gets us on the yoga mat day after boring day
🍷Corks the wine bottle after the second glass
🗓️Helps us meet our deadlines on the job trib.al/UIMf2z2
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