Much has been made of the widespreaddeclines in mental healthbrought on by the COVID-19 pandemic . Health , anxiety , job insecurity , societal closing off , and strains   on wellness divine service have no doubt fostered the ideal climate for mental wellness problems to expand . However , this might not necessarily be   the experience for all mortal .

A new work of US college students has found that extroverted people tended to suffer humor declension during the early COVID-19 pandemic , while more introverted people actually saw some improvement to their humor .

As reported in the journalPLOS One , scientists at the University of Vermont surveyed just under 500 first - year college student ( 76 pct of who were female ) who completeda “ Big Five ” personality testat the start of a semester that was disrupted by COVID . Both before and after the pandemic smash , they were ask to fulfill out a smartphone app survey that questions them about their mood and accent horizontal surface , as well as how often they exercised .

The issue paint a picture that climate and mental health broadly slumped during the COVID period , although emphasis levels were found to lessen in most .

There were also some marked differences between people with more extroverted personality traits compare to those with invert personalities . People with high level of extraversion generally experienced a decrease in humor as the pandemic progressed , but people with lower extraversion tend to see a slight addition in mood over time .

The inverse was found with stress , however : extroverted people receive decreased stress during the COVID period , but those with lower extraversion experienced slenderly high levels of stress .

“ The COVID pandemic also seem to have a damaging impact on our mental wellness indicator , although not as uniformly as we had expected , ” the subject field reads .

The study did n’t dig into the ground behind the trends it managed to pinpoint , but the researchers did excogitate on a few possible explanation .

Regarding the heightened tension seen among extrovert , they note : “ There is n’t a straightforward interpretation of this combination of findings , but we suppose that , as theorize , more extrovert hoi polloi might notice the stimulation and challenges of busy pedantic life-time to be more rewarding . Leaving this environment for home isolation thus could have ensue in feeling less stressed but more bored and lonely , result in a decrease in mood . ”

For the introspective citizenry who saw a slight temper rise during the pandemic , the researcher conceive that the lockdown and closure of the college may have act like a abbreviated holiday from the accent and strain of college life sentence , noting “ these results emphasize how trying college life can feel for some scholar . ”

“ The COVID pandemic brought more closing off and inactivity but also some succor from the steady stresses of this environment and this may have overall depressed both mood and comprehend level of stress ” it add .

There are few limitations to the study to take . For example , much of the data point was ego - report , which is not the most reliable style to cumulate information as mass ' ego - perception can skew the results . Nevertheless , the enquiry is one of the rare attempt to grasp how the same group of people felt both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic .