Comparing Phenotypic, Genetic, and Environmental Associations between Personality and Loneliness

Abstract

As a risk factor for mortality, loneliness is comparable in magnitude to obesity and physical activity. Given its public health relevance, efforts have been made to understand individual differences in loneliness. Four of the Big Five personality traits have emerged as consistent cross-sectional correlates. However, the etiology of links between the Big Five and loneliness is unclear, as are relations with more specific facets of personality. To fill these gaps, we estimated phenotypic, genetic, and environmental associations between loneliness and both broader and more narrow personality dimensions. Traits that indexed Negative Emotionality (e.g., Neuroticism, Stress Reactivity, and Alienation) and low Positive Emotionality (e.g., Extraversion, Well-Being, Social Closeness) had the strongest associations with loneliness, though low Conscientiousness, low Achievement, low Agreeableness, and high Aggression were also implicated. These phenotypic associations were explained both genetically (.30 < |rg| < .80) and environmentally (.10 < |re| < .35), consistent with an etiology involving several domains of personality underlying the development of loneliness.