{
  "abstract": "Empirical evidence indicates that societal crises and adverse conditions can negatively impact population mental health. The Big Five personality traits – neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness –significantly influence stress responses. In this article, we examine how personality traits were associated with mental distress during and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on data from the Understanding America Study, we find that, since the pandemic began, individuals with high levels of neuroticism were more likely to experience mental distress. By contrast, the remaining personality traits exhibited weaker, inconsistent, or statistically insignificant associations with mental health trajectories. Further analyses indicate that the heightened vulnerability among individuals high in neuroticism was accompanied by elevated risk perceptions, differential adoption of protective behaviors, and less adaptive coping patterns. Taken together, these findings suggest that personality-linked differences, particularly driven by the level of neuroticism, help explain heterogeneity in mental health responses to large-scale societal stressors. Our findings point to the relevance of personality traits (particularly neuroticism) for identifying individuals who may benefit from targeted mental health support during future crises.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "University of Southern California, Center for Economic and Social Research and Department of Economics, Los Angeles, California, United States of America",
    "University of Rome - Tor Vergata, Department of Economics, Rome, Italy",
    "University of Southern California, Schaeffer Institute for Public Policy and Government Service, Sol Price School of Public Policy, Los Angeles, California, United States of America",
    "University of Rome - La Sapienza, Department of Economics, Roma, Italy"
  ],
  "article_type": "Research Article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 4,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Marco Angrisani"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Vincenzo Atella"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Wändi Bruine de Bruin"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Joanna Kopinska"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/83kyjqqa1jd5m.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1371/journal.pone.0358371",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "83kyjqqa1jd5m",
  "issns": [
    "1932-6203"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0358371",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "3203|COVID-19 and Mental Health"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Psychology/Behavior"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Psychology/Personality"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Psychology/Personality/Personality traits"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Medicine and health sciences/Epidemiology/Medical risk factors"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Medicine and health sciences/Epidemiology/Pandemics"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Medicine and health sciences/Medical conditions/Infectious diseases/Viral diseases/COVID 19"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Medicine and health sciences/Mental health and psychiatry"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/People and places/Population groupings/Age groups"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Social sciences/Psychology/Behavior"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Social sciences/Psychology/Personality"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Social sciences/Psychology/Personality/Personality traits"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7220831720",
  "pdf_url": "https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0358371&type=printable",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-07",
  "publisher": "Public Library of Science",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/83kyjqqa1jd5m.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:30Z",
      "native_id": "10.1371/journal.pone.0358371",
      "source": "plos",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0358371"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "plos:epidemiology",
      "subfield": "epidemiology-public-health"
    },
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "plos:infectious diseases",
      "subfield": "infectious-disease"
    },
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "plos:mental health and psychiatry",
      "subfield": "psychiatry"
    }
  ],
  "title": "How personality traits shape susceptibility to mental distress in times of crisis: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic",
  "title_text": "How personality traits shape susceptibility to mental distress in times of crisis: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:30Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/83kyjqqa1jd5m",
  "venue": "PLOS One",
  "versions": []
}