Personality traits and the perception of the COVID-19 pandemic

The study examined dispositional personality traits identified in the six-factor HEXACO model and their involvement in the perception of various aspects of the pandemic. It was hypothesized that (1) the role of personality traits in experiencing the pandemic of COVID-19 and related hardships could be viewed as a predisposition to a certain type of reaction; (2) this predisposition could be identified by comparing extreme groups (respondents with diametrically opposed responses to the situation caused by the pandemic). This article presents the results of correlation and moderation analysis, and a comparison of extreme groups. The study was conducted during the first three weeks of the lockdown in Russia. The participants were undergraduate and graduate students from different fields (technical studies, natural sciences and humanities) residing in 15 cities in the European part of Russia. The sample included 667 participants aged 16-31 (M = 20.44, SD = 2.38); 74.2% of the participants were females. Respondents filled out two online questionnaires. The first related to perceptions about the COVID-19 pandemic, the second was a brief HEXACO inventory. The results obtained are as follows. High levels of Honesty/Humility, Conscientiousness and Agreeableness can be viewed as predictors of successful adaptation to the stressful situation caused by COVID-19, since first of all these personality traits contribute to recognition of the need for quarantine and thus reduce the likelihood of individuals infecting themselves and those around them; second, they are not associated with a feeling of hopelessness; and third, they help individuals adapt during the period of quarantine (at the very least, during the initial period of isolation that the study focused on). High levels of Emotionality had the reverse effect. This trait is associated with increased anxiety and, on one hand, can promote the recognition of the need for quarantine but, on the other, makes complying with quarantine measures more difficult. High Extraversion is also a risk factor. Individuals with high levels of Extraversion don't do well with isolation and tend to be skeptical about the very existence of the pandemic, believing either that its dangers are exaggerated, or that the pandemic is a hoax, which makes them more likely to violate quarantine measures and increases the probability of infection.