Abstract
During the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, everyday life has changed; people faced various difficulties and overcame them differently. This study aimed to identify how subjectively named difficulties, the ability to cope with these difficulties, and psychological well-being reported by individuals during the first quarantine of COVID-19 in Lithuania were related to gender, age, and personality traits. Three hundred fifty-one participants aged 18 to 70 years completed an online questionnaire. Results revealed that half of the respondents reported various difficulties, classified into six categories, related to the first COVID-19 quarantine. Furthermore, 51% of the participants indicated poor well-being; the well-being of women and young adults (aged 18–29) was significantly lower compared to the other groups. Those who indicated COVID-19 pandemic difficulties showed higher levels of Neuroticism, and Neuroticism was positively related to the severity of the difficulties. Coping with these difficulties and well-being were positively related to Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness, and negatively associated with Neuroticism. The manifestation of the particular personality traits in different groups of indicated difficulties is discussed in the article.
Highlights
The emergence of the Coronavirus disease COVID-19 in the world progressively resulted in various psychological and mental health problems, including stress, anxiety, depression, frustration, and uncertainty (Serafini et al, 2020)
All reported difficulties were classified according to the thematic analysis (Boyatzis, 1998) into six main groups: loss of job or significant decline in finance (n = 50 (11.8%)); changes in work activities (n = 92 (21.6%)); compliance with the requirements of the lockdown (n = 105 (24.7%)); lack of social contact (n = 45 (10.6%)); 5) health concerns related to COVID-19 and in general, without the possibility of seeing the doctor (31 (7.3%)); psychological difficulties as uncertainty, loneliness, isolation, anxiety, insomnia (102 (24%))
The scores of the WHO-5 index showed that 51% of the participants indicated poor well-being, which was negatively related to the severity of the impairment of COVID-19 difficulties and positively associated with coping with them
Summary
The emergence of the Coronavirus disease COVID-19 in the world progressively resulted in various psychological and mental health problems, including stress, anxiety, depression, frustration, and uncertainty (Serafini et al, 2020). Research reveals that young people have been unequally affected by the pandemic (Skruibis, 2021). Not much is delved into how facing and coping with pandemic related difficulties can be linked to individual differences, such as personality. Studies confirm that personality traits are related to how individuals cope with the changes in everyday life caused by the pandemic (AL-Omiri et al, 2021; Rettew et al, 2021). The relevance of COVID-19 related issues varies for different individuals and the individually perceived ability to cope with them. More research is needed to understand the subjective perception of the pandemic-related changes and their links to the personality traits to seek the inner psychological resources to improve mental health
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