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COVID-19 and Mental Health of Individuals with Different Personalities

Author

Listed:
  • Proto, Eugenio

    (University of Glasgow)

  • Zhang, Anwen

    (University of Glasgow)

Abstract

Several studies have been devoted to establishing the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on mental health across gender, age and ethnicity. However, much less attention has been paid to the differential effect of lockdown according to different personalities. We do this using the UKHLS longitudinal dataset, representative of the UK population. The UKHLS dataset allows us to assess the mental health of the same respondent during the Covid-19 period and the year before based on their personality "Big Five" traits and cognitive skills. We find that during the Covid-19 period individuals who have more Extrovert and Open personality report a higher mental health deterioration, while the ones scoring higher in Agreeableness are less affected. The effect of Openness is particularly strong: one more standard deviation predict one more symptom on the GHQ12 test for about 1 respondent over 4. In female respondents, Cognitive Skills and Openness are particularly strong predictors of deterioration. Neuroticism seems to predict more mental health deterioration, as it is normal to expect, but this effect is not significant in the main specifications of the estimated model. The study's results are robust to the inclusion of potential confounding variables such as changes in: physical health, household income and job status (like unemployed or furloughed).

Suggested Citation

  • Proto, Eugenio & Zhang, Anwen, 2021. "COVID-19 and Mental Health of Individuals with Different Personalities," IZA Discussion Papers 14388, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14388
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    Cited by:

    1. Foliano, Francesca & Tonei, Valentina & Sevilla, Almudena, 2024. "Social restrictions, leisure and well-being," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    2. Bagues, Manuel & Dimitrova, Velichka, 2021. "The Psychological Gains from COVID-19 Vaccination: Who Benefits the Most?," IZA Discussion Papers 14826, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Ekaterina Oparina & Caspar Kaiser & Niccolo Gentile & Alexandre Tkatchenko & Andrew E. Clark & Jan-Emmanuel De Neve & Conchita D'Ambrosio, 2022. "Human wellbeing and machine learning," CEP Discussion Papers dp1863, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    4. Etheridge, Ben & Spantig, Lisa, 2022. "The gender gap in mental well-being at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic: Evidence from the UK," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    5. Jian Zhao & Elaine Chapman & Stephen Houghton, 2022. "Key Predictive Factors in the Mental Health of Chinese University Students at Home and Abroad," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-15, December.
    6. Climent Quintana-Domeque & Jingya Zeng & Xiaohui Zhang, 2023. "Internet and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from the UK," Oxford Open Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 2, pages 433-459.
    7. Foliano, Francesca & Tonei, Valentina & Sevilla, Almudena, 2022. "Social Restrictions and Well-Being: Disentangling the Mechanisms," IZA Discussion Papers 15734, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Lindley, Joanne & Rienzo, Cinzia, 2021. "The Effect of Repeated Lockdowns during the Covid-19 Pandemic on UK Mental Health Outcomes," GLO Discussion Paper Series 977, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    9. Brink, Siegrun & Weicht, Rebecca & Levering, Britta & Icks, Annette, 2022. "Unternehmertum während der Corona-Pandemie: Individuelle Resilienz," IfM-Materialien 293, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    10. Alena Zolotareva & Sergei Shchebetenko & Svetlana Belousova & Irina Danilova & Vadim Tseilikman & Maxim Lapshin & Lilia Sarapultseva & Svetlana Makhniova & Maria Sarapultseva & Maria Komelkova & Deshe, 2022. "Big Five Traits as Predictors of a Healthy Lifestyle during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results of a Russian Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-8, August.
    11. Nie, Peng & Wang, Lu & Dragone, Davide & Lu, Haiyang & Sousa-Poza, Alfonso & Ziebarth, Nicolas R., 2022. "“The better you feel, the harder you fall”: Health perception biases and mental health among Chinese adults during the COVID-19 pandemic," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    12. Shih-Wei Yang & Malcolm Koo, 2022. "The Big Five Personality Traits as Predictors of Negative Emotional States in University Students in Taiwan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-10, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; mental health; Big 5; cognitive skills;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty

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