Does Personality Shape COVID-19 Responses in Older Adults?

Abstract Knowing how personality plays out in a pandemic can provide guidance to improve public health messaging. In a sample of 2066 participants (Mage = 51.42; 48.5% female), we examined whether personality is associated with concerns, precautions, preparations, and duration estimates of the COVID-19 pandemic. Personality traits were measured before the pandemic; responses were assessed in late March 2020. We investigated whether age moderates the trait-response associations because older adults are at higher risk for severe complications of COVID-19. Among the 65-96-year-olds, higher conscientiousness was associated with more preparations, higher openness was associated with greater concerns, and both higher openness and agreeableness were related to more preparations and longer duration estimates. This pattern has implications: If all older adults took COVID-19 seriously, individual differences in personality should not matter; however, our findings indicate that they do matter and could be considered in the development of personality-tailored communication to older adults.