A recent study has revealed a significant connection between higher levels of neuroticism within state populations and increased Covid death rates across the contiguous United States. This research, published in Psychreg Journal of Psychology, utilised data from 48 states to examine how personality traits influence pandemic outcomes, with neuroticism emerging as a powerful predictor of mortality.
Neuroticism, part of the Big Five personality traits, is characterised by heightened emotional reactivity, anxiety, and difficulty managing stress. These traits were found to exacerbate individual and collective vulnerabilities during the pandemic. According to Stewart J. H. McCann, PhD from Breton University: “To my knowledge, this was the first study conducted with individuals or states as the analytic units to demonstrate a positive association between neuroticism and COVID-19 deaths. Neuroticism accounted for substantial variance in state death rates even with the statistical control of state socioeconomic status, White population percent, urban population percent, and other relevant factors.”
The study’s results demonstrated that even when controlling for socioeconomic status, vaccination rates, urbanisation, and the proportion of older adults, neuroticism remained a significant factor in state-level mortality rates. Specifically, it accounted for 23.3% of the variance in Covid deaths after controlling for other variables. McCann further elaborated: “These results underline the importance of ambient personality levels in different geographical areas and foster speculation that they are plausible causal agents regarding the prevalence of health issues and mortality levels in these locales.”
The findings suggest that individuals with higher levels of neuroticism are more likely to perceive situations as stressful, react with anxiety, and adopt behaviours detrimental to health. This includes reduced adherence to public health guidelines and greater difficulty recovering from severe illness. States with higher average neuroticism scores tended to have elevated death rates, illustrating how psychological traits can amplify the impact of external crises. As McCann noted: “Already, this COVID-19 study initiated a few years ago has led me to conduct another study recently published in the Journal of Health Psychology, which shows, using structural equation modelling (SEM), that state-level neuroticism and openness to experience might be plausible causal agents regarding general death rates via an indirect path through common state health risks.”
The study also identified other contributors to mortality. States with lower percentages of White residents, greater urbanisation, lower vaccination rates, and less stringent public health mandates experienced higher death rates. However, the influence of neuroticism surpassed all other factors, highlighting the importance of psychological dimensions in public health outcomes. McCann explained: “No other variables in this study produced standardised regression coefficients that eclipsed those for neuroticism.”
The findings align with existing research linking neuroticism to chronic stress, reduced immune function, and heightened inflammatory responses, all of which increase susceptibility to severe illness. This research underscores the need to consider psychological and behavioural factors when designing public health interventions. Traditional strategies, such as improving vaccination rates and enforcing mandates, could benefit from being paired with tailored approaches that address stress management and promote emotional resilience. For example, public health messaging could be adapted to resonate with populations more prone to anxiety and stress, encouraging better compliance with guidelines.
Although the study focuses on state-level data, the findings raise broader questions about how personality traits influence health outcomes globally. Neuroticism has long been associated with poorer physical health and shorter lifespans, but its specific role during a pandemic has been less explored until now. By examining aggregate data, researchers have opened the door to further investigations into how psychological traits shape responses to infectious diseases. As Dr McCannCape reflected on future plans: “Many opportunities still exist with both states and individuals as the analytic units to further investigate the roles of the Big Five personality variables as predictors of health and mortality.”
