The rapid outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has affected citizens' daily lives in an unprecedented way. To curb the spread of the pandemic, governments have taken numerous measures such as social distancing and quarantine, which may be associated with psychological consequences, namely stress and loneliness globally. To understand differential associations of personality traits with psychological consequences of COVID-19, we utilize data from a sample of 99,217 individuals from 41 countries collected as part of the COVIDiSTRESS Global Survey. Data were analyzed using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis and multilevel regression models. Findings showed that while some of the associations were rather weak, Big Five personality traits were significantly associated with perceived stress and loneliness during the pandemic. Our study illustrates that neuroticism especially can be a vulnerability factor for stress and loneliness in times of crisis and can contribute to detection of at-risk individuals and optimization of psychological treatments during or after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Department of Applied Psychology NUML University Khayaban e Johar H 9 4 Islamabad Pakistan

Department of Behavioral Sciences Methodology University of Granada Granada 18071 Spain

Department of Political Science Aarhus University Bartholins Allé 7 8000 Aarhus C Denmark

Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University Providence RI United States

Department of Psychology Masaryk University Arna Nováka 1 602 00 Brno Czechia

Department of Psychology Middle East Technical University Dumlupinar Boulevard No 1 06800 Cankaya Ankara Turkey

Department of Psychology TOBB University of Economics and Technology Sogutozu Street 43 06510 Cankaya Ankara Turkey

Department of Psychology University of Chittagong Chattogram Bangladesh

Department of Psychology University of Dhaka Dhaka 1000 Bangladesh

Department of Psychology University of East London UK

Department of Psychology University of Sheffield Cathedral Court Sheffield S1 2LT UK

Faculty of Psychology University of Veracruz Av 20 de Noviembre 1197 Salvador Díaz Mirón 91700 Veracruz Mexico

Institute of Psychology University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw Okopowa 59 01 043 Warsaw Poland

Institute of Psychology University of Wroclaw Dawida 1 50 529 Wroclaw Poland

Peace Research Institute International Christian University 3 chome 10 2 Osawa Mitaka Tokyo 181 8585 Japan

School of History Anthropology Philosophy and Politics Queen's University Belfast University Rd Belfast BT7 1NN UK

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