Life satisfaction

Communication

Subjective well-being

Social psychology

Psychological well-being

Extraversion and introversion

Developmental psychology

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Big Five personality traits

Well-being

Psychology

Political science

Psychotherapist

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Autonomy

Medicine

Clinical psychology

Pandemic

Personality

Disease

Affect (linguistics)

Pathology

Happiness

Social Psychological and Personality Science

The current study assessed the effect of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic on subjective well-being (SWB) and psychological well-being (PWB) and whether the pandemic moderated the effect of personality on well-being. Measures of Big Five personality, SWB (life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect), and PWB (positive relations, autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, purpose in life, and self-acceptance) were obtained from a sample of young adults in Melbourne, Australia (n = 1,132; July 13–August 11, 2020) during a second wave of viral transmission and lockdown and an identically recruited pre-COVID sample (n = 547). Well-being was lower in the COVID sample, and differences were largest for positive affect (d = −0.48) and negative affect (d = 0.70). While the effect of personality on well-being was relatively robust, the effect of personality on well-being was slightly reduced, and the effect of extroversion on positive affect was particularly attenuated during the pandemic.

Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Big Five Personality on Subjective and Psychological Well-Being