NEW DELHI: How strongly one reacts to uncertainty, a part of their personality, may indicate how vulnerable they are to prolonged mental distress during a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, a new US study has found.
People scoring high on neuroticism experienced larger and more persistent increases in anxiety and depression symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with those scoring low on the trait that reflects one's tendency to experience anxiety, fear or sadness, lead author Marco Angrisani, senior economist at the University of Southern California's center for economic and social research (CESR), said.
The study, published in the journal PLOS One, followed 4,030 adults using data from the Understanding America Study, an internet panel managed by CESR.
Mental distress was measured through questionnaires assessing anxiety and depression symptoms.
The analysis included more than one lakh survey responses collected since 2019 through early 2024, allowing researchers to compare mental health before, during and after the pandemic.
"We find that, since the pandemic began, individuals with high levels of neuroticism were more likely to experience mental distress," the authors wrote.
Other personality traits analysed, including extraversion and openness to experiences, showed weaker, inconsistent, or insignificant associations with mental health trajectories.
During the pandemic, participants scoring among the highest 25 per cent for neuroticism were about 11-20 percentage points more likely to experience moderate or severe distress, the researchers found.
The link was found to persist across young, middle-aged and older adults and remained evident into the post-pandemic observation period.
Participants higher in neuroticism also perceived greater health and financial risks, adopted more protective behaviours and reported exercising and relaxing less frequently, while consuming more alcohol, the study found.
The researchers said the findings could help clinicians and emergency planners recognise who may need closer follow-up after disasters, public-health emergencies or other prolonged disruptions.
Public information campaigns could also be tested to ensure they inform people without unnecessarily increasing distress among those who are more vulnerable to it, they said.
Importantly, personality should be just one part of a broader risk assessment, alongside symptoms, previous mental-health conditions, and social circumstances, not a label or an automatic trigger for treatment, Angrisani said.
The study results also suggest that crisis communication emphasising practical, controllable actions -- combined with accessible mental-health support -- could help protect psychologically vulnerable groups, he said.