The Pandemic Personality Paradox: How Two Years of Disappointment, Loneliness, and Pivoting Has Fast-Tracked Personality Change Among Young Adults, and How To Find the Silver Linings
Covid. Ugh. We all have pandemic news fatigue by now. And although Covid may not be the headline of campus conversations anymore, our student interviews have shown us there’s always something about the pandemic written in the fine print. College student mental health has taken a hit in some obvious, and in some not-so-obvious, ways.
In this episode, we discuss a research study highlighted by the NY Times that suggests significant personality change has occurred as a consequence of the pandemic. And these changes are most significant in young adults. Overall, young adults were found to be less extroverted, agreeable, open and conscientious. And no surprise, they reported being more neurotic (stressed).
We describe *why* we think this has happened when looked at through the lens of collective trauma. Yet we are at the point in the pandemic where we have the opportunity to zoom out and take a wider view of things. How have you changed, and was it necessarily for the worst? What did you learn about yourself and your relationships? And are there ways in which you are still feeling the aftershocks of the pandemic? If so, you’re clearly not alone.
Regardless of your answers, we offer some hopeful insight into ways people build back stronger after a catastrophe. We share steps toward building resilience and ways to make meaning out of what’s happened.
“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.” - Haruki Murakami
More on the Big Five Personality Traits: The personality traits discussed in this episode come from the Big Five Personality Inventory, which measures five different dimensions of personality: neuroticism (stress), extroversion (connecting with others), openness (creative thinking), agreeableness (being trusting), and conscientiousness (being organized, disciplined and responsible).
If you’re interested in finding out more, here’s a great resource: https://www.verywellmind.com/the-big-five-personality-dimensions-2795422
Articles written about this research study: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/22/health/covid-impact-personality-change.htmlhttps://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/10/05/1126825073/pandemic-stress-impact-personalities
PLOS One Research Article: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0274542
