Far from being impossible to change, people can increase this personality trait.
Feeling lonely is a part of some people’s genetic makeup.
Feeling lonely is a part of some people’s genetic makeup.
People who are neurotic have a genetic tendency towards loneliness.
Neuroticism is a personality trait that indicates a tendency to experience stress and insecurity.
However, loneliness is not just genetic, it is also a result of life circumstances.
In fact, the environment plays a bigger part than genetics — which is good news, because that means it can change.
Lonely people do not have to stay that way, whatever their genetic makeup.
Professor Julie Aitken Schermer, the study’s first author, said:
“If you have rich interactions with people, that’s an environmental component that would combat the genetic impact of loneliness.”
The conclusions come from research on 764 pairs of twins in Australia.
Twins enable researchers to separate out the influence of genetics and the environment on a person.
All were asked about their personality and any loneliness they experienced.
The results showed that people who were neurotic reported feeling more lonely.
In contrast, those who were high in extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness were less likely to experience loneliness.
The authors write:
“The results suggest common genetic and unique environmental factors play a role in personality and loneliness.”
Professor Schermer is worried about the spread of loneliness across society:
“It does concern be me because we’re getting lonelier as a society.
We’re not having the same richness of interaction.”
Professor Schermer sees it in her students:
“They’re all looking at their devices and not interacting with each other.
I always tell my students, ‘Put your stuff down and talk to each other.’
This is the key time to make friends – they already have things in common.”
The study was published in the Journal of Research in Personality (Schermer & Martin, 2019).
The link between neuroticism and mental health is well known, but another trait has been overlooked.
People prefer a certain personality type in a romantic partner, study demonstrates.
People prefer a certain personality type in a romantic partner, study demonstrates.
People with similar personalities are the most compatible.
Extraverts get on with other extraverts, conscientious people are happy with other conscientious people, the agreeable love other agreeable people — and so on.
There was no evidence in this study that opposites attract.
Romantic partners also get on better — at least initially — when they have similar attitudes.
For a happy marriage, though, it is a similar personality that works best.
Similar attitudes, which are easier to gauge than personality, may help people with similar personalities find each other.
The study’s authors write:
“People may be attracted to those who have similar attitudes, values, and beliefs and even marry them – at least in part – on the basis of this similarity because attitudes are highly visible and salient characteristics and they are fundamental to the way people lead their lives.”
The conclusions come from a study of 291 newlyweds who were asked about their personality, attitudes and marital satisfaction.
The results showed that the couples who had similar personalities were happier together.
Attitudes — whether similar or not — made no different to marital satisfaction.
The authors write:
“…once people are in a committed relationship, it is primarily personality similarity that influences marital happiness because being in a committed relationship entails regular interaction and requires extensive coordination in dealing with tasks, issues and problems of daily living.
Whereas personality similarity is likely to facilitate this process, personality differences may result in more friction and conflict in daily life.
As far as attitudes are concerned, people who chose to marry each other should be well aware of how similar or different they are on these domains because attitudes are very visible and salient.
This suggests that attitudinal and value differences, when they exist, are part of a conscious decision to stay together on the basis of other important considerations.”
The study was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Luo & Klohnen, 2005).
Optimistic people don’t just think differently: here are 10 ways they live fundamentally better lives.
Some personalities are wired for success: research reveals the hidden factor behind sticking to goals.
Decades of data show you manage stress affects your personality.
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The neural signature that separates eternal optimists from everyone else.
Certain personality traits predict how long you will live.
Certain personality traits predict how long you will live.
People who are persistent and careful live the longest lives.
Surprisingly, to live a long life you don’t need to be particularly happy.
In fact, the people you might expect to live longest — cheerful, happy-go-lucky types — actually have the shortest lives.
The reason is that cheerful, laid-back people tend to be more careless about their health.
Persistent and conscientious people, though, get that check-up and are more committed to their work.
The conclusions come from a study that originally included 1,500 smart children.
They were followed from when they were 10-years-old in 1921.
Professor Howard S. Friedman, the study’s first author, said:
“Probably our most amazing finding was that personality characteristics and social relations from childhood can predict one’s risk of dying decades later.”
Namely, being conscientious predicted a long life, explained Professor Leslie R. Martin, study co-author:
“…participants who were the most cheerful and had the best sense of humor as kids lived shorter lives, on average, than those who were less cheerful and joking.
It was the most prudent and persistent individuals who stayed healthiest and lived the longest.”
The study also found that people who were the most committed to their jobs lived the longest.
Productive people lived longer than their more laid-back peers.
Professor Friedman said:
“…we found that as a general life-orientation, too much of a sense that ‘everything will be just fine’ can be dangerous because it can lead one to be careless about things that are important to health and long life.
Prudence and persistence, however, led to a lot of important benefits for many years.
It turns out that happiness is not a root cause of good health.
Instead, happiness and health go together because they have common roots.”
Some other pointers for a long life from the study included:
It’s never too late to make a change, said Professor Martin:
“Thinking of making changes as taking ‘steps’ is a great strategy.
You can’t change major things about yourself overnight.
But making small changes, and repeating those steps, can eventually create that path to longer life.”
The research was published in The Longevity Project: Surprising Discoveries for Health and Long Life from the Landmark Eight Decade Study (Friedman & Martin, 2011).
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