Cristina
In the summer sem 2020 at the University of Vermont, a team of researchers and doctors started a study on almost 500 first-year college students. To get data on wellness activities and mental health. Then the Corona Virus hit the campus and it went remote.
As you get to know, the study didn’t go as per the plans, but what came out was surprising to know how personality affects toughness and well-being. They find Introverts Had an Advantage During COVID-19. Every day the students were asked to rate their level of stress and their moods, and any wellness activity they did in that whole day like(yoga, exercise, and sleep, etc).
From before covid-19 to after covid-19 days, there was a decrease in mood and well-being which means their state of mind started to go worse as one can expect. The level of stress actually went down too of students. The main shocking part is that the introvert’s mood improved(got a boost) and the extrovert’s mood got worse over the semester.
The group doing the study was directed by Dr. David C. Rettew,is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and a professor at The University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine.
Introverts have many positive traits that people don’t always realize. Like they can work in a calm and peaceful place more efficiently than others do. But if you have known some of the special strengths we introverts have, now there’s even more that’ll prove scientifically.
Reticent being a Part of Personality
So the scientist used the big five inventory to know who is an introvert. That is a questionnaire that is medically accepted that assesses where a person falls on any of five spectrums and describes the personality trait they have. The five traits are-
| 1. Neuroticism |
| 2. Extroversion |
| 3. Openness |
| 4. Agreeableness |
| 5. Conscientiousness |
If you test less on the second one(extroversion) that means you are an introvert.
If you ask a researcher, they are more likely to answer you that the Big Five is the best model for giving a detail of personality that a person has, and some even use this for diagnosis. But some have argued that including goals, values, plans and a person’s story gives a more complete impression of the picture of the person’s personality. Most researchers also agree that while people can adapt to conditions, our personalities don’t change massively over lifetimes.
Low extroversion or being an introvert is not a problem in and of itself. Even according to the model, there can be a connection between introversion and higher neuroticism. Many introverted people don’t feel particularly sad and are comfortable with their introverted tendencies. To some point, we can change our traits if we choose to do so.
Reticent during the Covid-19 (pandemic)
The introverted college students in the study, who started their semester on campus and then went home to continue college remotely, were in a better mental place after a short period of isolation. They are not only ones, as introverts in many stages of life-especially those of us who have immunities enough to be able to work or study from home-have liked aspects of our lives in lockdown. Many of the people among us have felt motivated and being creative in isolation because that many of us get the drain out to know about to go back into a society of large gatherings and noisy surroundings.
Many introverts sense what this study seems to show: that our well-being increases when the world is constructed in a way that encourages being quiet, independent, and healthy alone time. During this period of covid-19, we introverts don’t mind some of the changes that have brought during this period.
The main reason for introverted people not getting stressed out during the time of covid-19. It is because they don’t feel guilty not meeting the people or socializing with them. As they were not allowed to do so earlier by their nature type and nobody else was outside.
Introverted people can relate to it! As introverts not having much pressure to socialize with people, meet someone personally, at parties or be in loud surroundings. Our likings were neutralized instead of being treated more like the other that does not follow a rule.
Where We Can Go From Here?
Many people report that they feel more relaxed and more attentive working from home. And people say that it also makes it hard to interact with people because they are not used to it.
College can be interesting but it also can be stressful, the stress gets less going to remote from the college, they perform better. Dr. Rettew thinks that the population made up of college students might have played a role in the study results.
Most people agree that we won’t go back to normal life again. And the people working in an office will not be asked to work like before in the office. When something will be delivered to us we will more like to choose “keep it away” and not to talk to a stranger whom we don’t know. People will start going out solo and it will be even more popular with the trend. This news is good for introverted people as it makes them feel more comfortable and like that the world started to become introverted because of this pandemic that is all over the world.
The introverts are likely to adapt to the post-pandemic change and will be comfortable and beneficial to do work from their places. As the introverted are accurate and innovative while working alone in their own space, in a calm and peaceful environment. They can be more beneficial working from home or from their places as they love to be with themselves without interruption of the other people around. Introverts are more happy working by themselves. And the new changes that are occurring due to the pandemic will be soon seen as a welcome change too.
Also check: 5 Common Things Anxious Introverts Do at Work That May Seem Rude
