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Peer-reviewedCC BY-NC-ND 4.0Nature

Robust inference and correlates from genetic associations with personality

  • Ted Schwaba1
  • Margaret L. Clapp Sullivan2
  • Wonuola A. Akingbuwa3,4
  • Kerli Ilves5
  • Peter T. Tanksley6
  • Camille Michèle Williams7
  • Yavor Dragostinov8,9
  • Travis T. Mallard10,11,12,13
  • Justin D. Tubbs10,11,12,13
  • Wangjingyi Liao14
  • Lindsay Ackerman15
  • Josephine C. M. Fealy15
88 more authors
  • Gibran Hemani16,17
  • Javier de la Fuente8
  • George Davey Smith16,17
  • Priya Gupta18
  • Murray B. Stein19
  • Joel E. Gelernter18
  • Daniel F. Levey18
  • Urmo Võsa5
  • Liisi Ausmees20
  • Anu Realo21,20,22
  • Tõnu Esko5
  • Mariliis Vaht5
  • Jüri Allïk21
  • Tõnu Esko5
  • René Mõttus23,20
  • Uku Vainik21,5,24
  • Guðrún A. Jónsdóttir25
  • Guðmar Þorleifsson25
  • Árni Freyr Gunnarsson25
  • Gyða Björnsdóttir25
  • Thorgeir Elís Thorgeirsson25
  • Hreinn Stefánsson25
  • Kāri Stefánsson25
  • Rosa Cheesman26,27
  • Qi Qin26
  • Elizabeth C. Corfield16,28,29
  • Helga Ask26,28
  • Fartein Ask Torvik30,26
  • Eivind Ystrøm31,26,28
  • Martin Tesli32,33
  • Dorret Irene Boomsma34
  • Eco J. C. de Geus3,4
  • Jouke‐Jan Hottenga4
  • Dener Cardoso Melo35
  • Harold Snieder36
  • Catharina Annette Hartman23,35
  • Charley Xia23,37
  • Archie I Campbell38
  • Michelle Luciano A23
  • Ian J. Deary4,23
  • W. David Hill23,37
  • Seon-Kyeong Jang39
  • Scott I. Vrieze40
  • Gonçalo R. Abecasis
  • Michelle K. Lupton
  • Brittany L. Mitchell
  • Petra Verena Viher
  • Lucía Colodro‐Conde

60 listed; 100 in total.

40 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA. [email protected]
  2. 2Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States
  3. 3Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  4. 4Department of Biological Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  5. 5Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
  6. 6ALERRT Center, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA
  7. 7Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique (ENS, EHESS, CNRS), École Normale Supérieure, PSL University, Paris, France
  8. 8Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
  9. 9Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
  10. 10Center for Precision Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
  11. 11Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
  12. 12Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Center for Genomic Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
  13. 13Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
  14. 14School of Biological and Behavioral Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
  15. 15Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
  16. 16Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
  17. 17Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
  18. 18Yale University, Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System, New Haven, CT, USA
  19. 19University of California San Diego, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA
  20. 20Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
  21. 21Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
  22. 22School of Educational Sciences, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia
  23. 23Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
  24. 24Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
  25. 25deCODE genetics/Amgen, Reykjavik, Iceland
  26. 26PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
  27. 27School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
  28. 28PsychGen Centre for Genetic Epidemiology and Mental Health, Division of Public Health and Prevention, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
  29. 29Psychiatric Genetic Epidemiology Group, Research Department, Lovisenberg Diaconal Hospital, Oslo, Norway
  30. 30Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
  31. 31Centre for Research on Equality in Education, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
  32. 32Department of Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
  33. 33Department of Psychiatry, Østfold Hospital, Sarpsborg, Norway
  34. 34Department of Complex Trait Genetics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  35. 35Interdisciplinary Center Psychopathology and Emotion Regulation (ICPE), University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
  36. 36Epidemiology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
  37. 37Lothian Birth Cohort Studies, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
  38. 38Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
  39. 39Department of Computational Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
  40. 40Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
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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.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{schwaba2026robust,
  title = {{Robust inference and correlates from genetic associations with personality}},
  author = {Ted Schwaba and Margaret L. Clapp Sullivan and Wonuola A. Akingbuwa and Kerli Ilves and Peter T. Tanksley and Camille Michèle Williams and Yavor Dragostinov and Travis T. Mallard and Justin D. Tubbs and Wangjingyi Liao and Lindsay Ackerman and Josephine C. M. Fealy and Gibran Hemani and Javier de la Fuente and George Davey Smith and Priya Gupta and Murray B. Stein and Joel E. Gelernter and Daniel F. Levey and Urmo Võsa and Liisi Ausmees and Anu Realo and Tõnu Esko and Mariliis Vaht and Jüri Allïk and Tõnu Esko and René Mõttus and Uku Vainik and Guðrún A. Jónsdóttir and Guðmar Þorleifsson and Árni Freyr Gunnarsson and Gyða Björnsdóttir and Thorgeir Elís Thorgeirsson and Hreinn Stefánsson and Kāri Stefánsson and Rosa Cheesman and Qi Qin and Elizabeth C. Corfield and Helga Ask and Fartein Ask Torvik and Eivind Ystrøm and Martin Tesli and Dorret Irene Boomsma and Eco J. C. de Geus and Jouke‐Jan Hottenga and Dener Cardoso Melo and Harold Snieder and Catharina Annette Hartman and Charley Xia and Archie I Campbell and Michelle Luciano A and Ian J. Deary and W. David Hill and Seon-Kyeong Jang and Scott I. Vrieze and Gonçalo R. Abecasis and Michelle K. Lupton and Brittany L. Mitchell and Petra Verena Viher and Lucía Colodro‐Conde},
  journal = {Nature},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.1038/s41586-026-10992-9},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10992-9},
  note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Robust inference and correlates from genetic associations with personality
AU  - Ted Schwaba
AU  - Margaret L. Clapp Sullivan
AU  - Wonuola A. Akingbuwa
AU  - Kerli Ilves
AU  - Peter T. Tanksley
AU  - Camille Michèle Williams
AU  - Yavor Dragostinov
AU  - Travis T. Mallard
AU  - Justin D. Tubbs
AU  - Wangjingyi Liao
AU  - Lindsay Ackerman
AU  - Josephine C. M. Fealy
AU  - Gibran Hemani
AU  - Javier de la Fuente
AU  - George Davey Smith
AU  - Priya Gupta
AU  - Murray B. Stein
AU  - Joel E. Gelernter
AU  - Daniel F. Levey
AU  - Urmo Võsa
AU  - Liisi Ausmees
AU  - Anu Realo
AU  - Tõnu Esko
AU  - Mariliis Vaht
AU  - Jüri Allïk
AU  - Tõnu Esko
AU  - René Mõttus
AU  - Uku Vainik
AU  - Guðrún A. Jónsdóttir
AU  - Guðmar Þorleifsson
AU  - Árni Freyr Gunnarsson
AU  - Gyða Björnsdóttir
AU  - Thorgeir Elís Thorgeirsson
AU  - Hreinn Stefánsson
AU  - Kāri Stefánsson
AU  - Rosa Cheesman
AU  - Qi Qin
AU  - Elizabeth C. Corfield
AU  - Helga Ask
AU  - Fartein Ask Torvik
AU  - Eivind Ystrøm
AU  - Martin Tesli
AU  - Dorret Irene Boomsma
AU  - Eco J. C. de Geus
AU  - Jouke‐Jan Hottenga
AU  - Dener Cardoso Melo
AU  - Harold Snieder
AU  - Catharina Annette Hartman
AU  - Charley Xia
AU  - Archie I Campbell
AU  - Michelle Luciano A
AU  - Ian J. Deary
AU  - W. David Hill
AU  - Seon-Kyeong Jang
AU  - Scott I. Vrieze
AU  - Gonçalo R. Abecasis
AU  - Michelle K. Lupton
AU  - Brittany L. Mitchell
AU  - Petra Verena Viher
AU  - Lucía Colodro‐Conde
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/02
JO  - Nature
DO  - 10.1038/s41586-026-10992-9
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10992-9
AB  - 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.
SN  - 0028-0836
SN  - 1476-4687
ER  -