Personality and change in perceived control during the acute stage of the coronavirus pandemic.

Lower perceived control (PC) is related to maladaptive psychological responses to stressful events, yet it is unclear whether longer-term situations are associated with PC change over time. This study examined PC change during the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic and whether trajectories varied by age and personality. Personality was assessed in 2455 U.S. adults (18-100 years) from an online study conducted January-February 2020. PC was assessed across three follow-ups (March-July 2020). Latent growth curves modeled PC change. In controlled models, PC decreased (ß = -0.107, p = .005). Older adults had higher PC than younger adults (ß = 0.012, p = .001), and experienced less PC decline (ß = 0.012, p < .001). All personality traits but Openness were related to PC at baseline (ßs ranged from -0.912 to 0.543, ps < .001). Conscientiousness (ß = 0.155, p = .002), Extraversion (ß = 0.128, p = .008), and Agreeableness (ß = 0.099, p = .044) were associated with less PC decline. Employment (ß = 0.160, p = .022), health (ß = 0.133, p = .002), and disease burden (ß = -0.056, p = .014) were also associated with PC change. These results were largely driven by the financial dimension of PC. This study provides evidence for PC change during the COVID-19 pandemic and identifies sociodemographic, personality, and health moderators of PC trajectory.

Personality pathways to mortality: Interleukin-6 links conscientiousness to mortality risk.

Personality is associated consistently with mortality hazards, but the physiological pathways are not yet clear. Immune system dysregulation may be one such pathway due to its role in age-related morbidity and mortality. In this preregistered study, we tested whether interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP) mediated the associations between personality traits and mortality hazards. The sample included 957 participants (M ± SD = 58.65 ± 11.51 years; range = 35-86 years) from the Midlife in the United States Survey that had 14 years of follow-up. Higher conscientiousness was associated with lower mortality hazards, with each one standard deviation higher conscientiousness associated with a 35% lower mortality risk. IL-6, but not CRP, partially mediated this association, with IL-6 accounting for 18% of this association in the fully adjusted model. While there was initial evidence that the biomarkers mediated both neuroticism and agreeableness and mortality risk, the indirect effects were not significant when controlling for the sociodemographic variables. Taken together, higher conscientiousness may lead to a longer life partially as a result of lower IL-6. This work highlights the importance of biological pathways that link personality to future mortality risk.