A meta-analysis of data from three large-scale panel studies found that more pronounced extraversion, conscientiousness, and emotional stability at a given time point, compared to an individual’s typical level of these traits, predict slightly lower levels of loneliness four years later. However, higher levels of loneliness also predicted lower levels of these same three traits four years later. The paper was published in the Journal of Personality.
Loneliness is the distressing feeling that one’s social relationships are fewer, less close, or less satisfying than desired. It is a subjective experience and is therefore different from social isolation, which refers to objectively having little social contact. A person can feel lonely while surrounded by others or feel content despite spending much time alone.
Loneliness may involve a lack of emotional intimacy, insufficient companionship, or a sense of not belonging to a group. Temporary loneliness is common after events such as moving, bereavement, relationship breakdown, or social conflict. Chronic loneliness is associated with depression, anxiety, sleep problems, and poorer quality of life. It may also contribute to increased stress responses, unhealthy behaviors, and poorer physical health over time. Older adults, adolescents, caregivers, migrants, and people with limited mobility may be especially vulnerable, although loneliness can affect anyone.
Lukas Schellenberg, a researcher at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, and colleagues examined the longitudinal relationships between loneliness and the Big Five personality traits in four datasets from three large-scale panel studies. They examined whether changes over time in personality trait levels are associated with changes in loneliness. More specifically, they studied whether deviations from individuals’ typical levels of Big Five personality traits predict future deviations from their typical levels of loneliness and vice versa.
The Big Five is a widely used model of personality describing five broad traits: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Openness reflects curiosity and interest in new ideas, conscientiousness reflects organization and self-discipline, and extraversion reflects sociability and positive emotionality. Agreeableness refers to compassion, cooperation, and trust, while neuroticism reflects greater sensitivity to stress and negative emotions. The opposite pole of neuroticism is called emotional stability. The researchers hypothesized that increases in extraversion, conscientiousness, and emotional stability would be associated with lower levels of loneliness at later time points, and vice versa.
Study authors used data from three large-scale panel studies: the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey; the Health and Retirement Study (a U.S. study of adults aged 50 and older); and the Longitudinal Internet Panel for the Social Sciences (a Dutch study). In total, these studies included data from 63,502 respondents. All the studies were longitudinal and differed both in length and in the specific questionnaires used to assess the Big Five personality traits and loneliness.
The researchers examined the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and loneliness over time. They found that higher levels of extraversion, conscientiousness, and emotional stability at a given time point relative to individuals’ typical levels predicted slightly lower levels of loneliness four years later. In turn, higher levels of loneliness predicted lower levels of extraversion, emotional stability, and conscientiousness four years later. The observed effect sizes were generally very small.
“Overall, the present findings point to a dynamic, reciprocal relationship between loneliness and the Big Five traits, suggesting that these traits both influence and respond to loneliness,” the study authors concluded.
The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the relationship between personality traits and loneliness. However, it should be noted that all the data were based on self-reports, leaving room for reporting error to have affected the results. Study authors also note that all the data came from Western, democratic countries, limiting the generalizability of the results to other cultural contexts.
The paper, “Identifying Robust Longitudinal Transactions Between Loneliness and the Big Five Personality Traits,” was authored by Lukas Schellenberg, Wiebke Bleidorn, and Peter Haehner.