{
  "abstract": "Personality traits describe stable differences in how people think, feel and behave, and how they interact with and experience their social and physical environments1,2. Many questions remain unanswered about associations between DNA and personality traits, such as their robustness, their generalizability and the biological and social pathways through which they act. Here we meta-analyse data across 46 cohorts comprising 611,037 to 1.14 million participants with European-like and African-like genomes for genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of the Big Five personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience), and data from up to 50,725 participants for within-family GWAS. We identify 1,260 lead genetic variants associated with personality, including 824 novel variants3. Common genetic variants explain a moderate 4.8–9.3% of the variance in measures of each trait, and 9.3–13.3% among instruments with typical measurement reliability. Genetic associations with personality are highly consistent but not identical across geography, reporter (self versus close other), age group and measurement instrument, and we find minimal spousal assortment for personality in recent history. In contrast to many other social and behavioural traits4,5, within-family GWAS and polygenic index analyses indicate that genetic associations with personality are minimally confounded by the shared family environment. Polygenic prediction, genetic correlation and Mendelian randomization analyses indicate that personality traits have widespread, potentially causal associations with consequential behaviours and life outcomes. Overall, we find that the genetic architecture of personality is robustly generalizable, minimally confounded and widely relevant to human experience.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA. tedschwaba@gmail.com",
    "Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States",
    "Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands",
    "Department of Biological Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands",
    "Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia",
    "ALERRT Center, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA",
    "Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique (ENS, EHESS, CNRS), École Normale Supérieure, PSL University, Paris, France",
    "Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA",
    "Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA",
    "Center for Precision Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA",
    "Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA",
    "Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Center for Genomic Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA",
    "Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA",
    "School of Biological and Behavioral Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK",
    "Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA",
    "Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK",
    "Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK",
    "Yale University, Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System, New Haven, CT, USA",
    "University of California San Diego, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA",
    "Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia",
    "Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK",
    "School of Educational Sciences, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia",
    "Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK",
    "Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada",
    "deCODE genetics/Amgen, Reykjavik, Iceland",
    "PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway",
    "School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK",
    "PsychGen Centre for Genetic Epidemiology and Mental Health, Division of Public Health and Prevention, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway",
    "Psychiatric Genetic Epidemiology Group, Research Department, Lovisenberg Diaconal Hospital, Oslo, Norway",
    "Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway",
    "Centre for Research on Equality in Education, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway",
    "Department of Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway",
    "Department of Psychiatry, Østfold Hospital, Sarpsborg, Norway",
    "Department of Complex Trait Genetics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands",
    "Interdisciplinary Center Psychopathology and Emotion Regulation (ICPE), University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands",
    "Epidemiology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands",
    "Lothian Birth Cohort Studies, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK",
    "Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK",
    "Department of Computational Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA",
    "Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 100,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Ted Schwaba",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5491-5386"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Margaret L. Clapp Sullivan",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0231-1529"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Wonuola A. Akingbuwa",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8205-0807"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Kerli Ilves",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8280-1236"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Peter T. Tanksley",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3449-2838"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Camille Michèle Williams",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1471-6566"
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    {
      "affs": [
        7,
        8
      ],
      "name": "Yavor Dragostinov",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8090-9614"
    },
    {
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        10,
        11,
        12
      ],
      "name": "Travis T. Mallard",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3265-3001"
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    {
      "affs": [
        9,
        10,
        11,
        12
      ],
      "name": "Justin D. Tubbs",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6671-6816"
    },
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      "affs": [
        13
      ],
      "name": "Wangjingyi Liao",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9806-3971"
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        14
      ],
      "name": "Lindsay Ackerman",
      "orcid": "0009-0002-3373-3887"
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        14
      ],
      "name": "Josephine C. M. Fealy"
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        16
      ],
      "name": "Gibran Hemani",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0920-1055"
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        7
      ],
      "name": "Javier de la Fuente",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8352-7104"
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      "name": "George Davey Smith",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1407-8314"
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      ],
      "name": "Priya Gupta",
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        18
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      "name": "Murray B. Stein",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9564-2871"
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        17
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      "name": "Joel E. Gelernter",
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        17
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      "name": "Daniel F. Levey",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8431-9569"
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      "name": "Urmo Võsa",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3476-1652"
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      "name": "Liisi Ausmees",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0771-2639"
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        19,
        21
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      "name": "Anu Realo",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0649-274X"
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        4
      ],
      "name": "Tõnu Esko",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1982-6569"
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      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Mariliis Vaht",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5733-7056"
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        20
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      "name": "Jüri Allïk",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8358-4747"
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    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Tõnu Esko",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1982-6569"
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    {
      "affs": [
        22,
        19
      ],
      "name": "René Mõttus",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6403-5224"
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    {
      "affs": [
        20,
        4,
        23
      ],
      "name": "Uku Vainik",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9375-9520"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        24
      ],
      "name": "Guðrún A. Jónsdóttir"
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    {
      "affs": [
        24
      ],
      "name": "Guðmar Þorleifsson",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4623-9087"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        24
      ],
      "name": "Árni Freyr Gunnarsson"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        24
      ],
      "name": "Gyða Björnsdóttir",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8100-0306"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        24
      ],
      "name": "Thorgeir Elís Thorgeirsson",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5149-7040"
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    {
      "affs": [
        24
      ],
      "name": "Hreinn Stefánsson",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9331-6666"
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    {
      "affs": [
        24
      ],
      "name": "Kāri Stefánsson",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1676-864X"
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    {
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        25,
        26
      ],
      "name": "Rosa Cheesman",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6543-0402"
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    {
      "affs": [
        25
      ],
      "name": "Qi Qin",
      "orcid": "0009-0001-4241-0724"
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        15,
        27,
        28
      ],
      "name": "Elizabeth C. Corfield",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0119-157X"
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        25,
        27
      ],
      "name": "Helga Ask",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0149-5319"
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    {
      "affs": [
        29,
        25
      ],
      "name": "Fartein Ask Torvik",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3984-5978"
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    {
      "affs": [
        30,
        25,
        27
      ],
      "name": "Eivind Ystrøm",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4390-6171"
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    {
      "affs": [
        31,
        32
      ],
      "name": "Martin Tesli",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7495-5545"
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      "affs": [
        33
      ],
      "name": "Dorret Irene Boomsma",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7099-7972"
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    {
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        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Eco J. C. de Geus",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6022-2666"
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    {
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        3
      ],
      "name": "Jouke‐Jan Hottenga",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5668-2368"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        34
      ],
      "name": "Dener Cardoso Melo",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5415-8098"
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      "affs": [
        35
      ],
      "name": "Harold Snieder",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1949-2298"
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    {
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        22,
        34
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      "name": "Catharina Annette Hartman",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8094-8859"
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        22,
        36
      ],
      "name": "Charley Xia",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8194-9351"
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    {
      "affs": [
        37
      ],
      "name": "Archie I Campbell",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0198-5078"
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    {
      "affs": [
        22
      ],
      "name": "Michelle Luciano A",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7306-3008"
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        22
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      "name": "Ian J. Deary",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1733-263X"
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      "name": "W. David Hill"
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      "name": "Seon-Kyeong Jang",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8533-6894"
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    {
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        39
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      "name": "Scott I. Vrieze",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3861-7930"
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    {
      "name": "Gonçalo R. Abecasis",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1509-1825"
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      "name": "Michelle K. Lupton",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7274-7299"
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      "orcid": "0000-0002-9050-1516"
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      "name": "Petra Verena Viher"
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      "name": "Lucía Colodro‐Conde",
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  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2e16721kjtm0r.bib",
  "cited_by": 34,
  "doi": "10.1038/s41586-026-10992-9",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13589609/",
  "id": "2e16721kjtm0r",
  "issns": [
    "0028-0836",
    "1476-4687"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10992-9",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
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      "1311|Genetic Associations and Epidemiology"
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  "pmcid": "PMC13589609",
  "pmid": "42686911",
  "published": "2026-09-02",
  "publisher": "Nature Portfolio",
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      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10992-9"
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      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10992-9"
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:1311|Genetic Associations and Epidemiology",
      "subfield": "genetics-genomics"
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  ],
  "title": "Robust inference and correlates from genetic associations with personality",
  "title_text": "Robust inference and correlates from genetic associations with personality",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-08T13:20:41Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2e16721kjtm0r",
  "venue": "Nature",
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}