Personality traits and loneliness in older adults: A review

Introduction

According to the World Health Organization (2025a) [31] , one of the most important demographic characteristics of the 21st century is population ageing. Advances in health care and improved living condition have led to increased life expectancy worldwide with global life expectancy at birth reaching 73.3 years in 2024, resulting a growing proportion of older adults in many societies (United Nations, 2024) [28] . By 2013, 1 in 6 people worldwide will be aged 60 years or over, doubling to 2.1 billion by 2050 (World Health Organization, 2025a) [31] . While longer lifespan represent an important social achievement, aging also present several psychological challenges that may affect well-being and quality of life. Despite these difficulties, loneliness has become an important public health problem for older adults (Holt-Lunstad et al., 2015) [11] . Loneliness is a subjective emotional experience that occur when individual perceive a gap between a social relationship they desire and those they actually have (Hawkley & Cacioppo, 2010) [10] . In contrast to social isolation, which is defined as an actual lack of social connections, loneliness is a reflection of discontent with the quantity or quality of social relationships, studies suggest that between 10% and 28% of older adults experience significant loneliness making it a widespread issue among aging populations (Victor & Bowling, 2012) [29] . Numerous detrimental consequences, including as sadness, anxiety, cognitive decline, diminished immunological function, cardiovascular issues, and an elevated chance of death, are linked to loneliness in later life (Itzick & Zychlinski, 2020) [12] . The consequences of loneliness are comparable to other major health risk factors such as smoking and obesity. Therefore, understanding the factors that contribute to loneliness is essential for promoting healthy aging.

Several structural and social factors contribute to loneliness in older adulthood. Life transitions such as retirement, declining physical health, widowhood, relocation, and reduced social participation may limit opportunities for social interaction (World Health Organization, 2025a) [31] . However, not all older adults who experience these life changes becomes lonely. Some individuals remains maintain satisfying social life and report high level of emotional well being despite similar circumstances (Ong et al., 2016) [19] . These variations suggest that individual psychological characteristics particularly personality trait play an important role in shaping one vulnerability to loneliness personality trait influence how individual things feel and behave in social context these trait affect how people initiate relationship respond to social interaction interpret trait social cues and cope with interpersonal difficulties. The Big five model of personality is one of the most widely used framework for understanding personality structure. It includes five broad dimensions: Neurotism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and consciousness (Costa & McCrae, 1992) [5] . These traits are relatively stable across adulthood, but continue to influence behaviour and social functioning throughout the lifespan. Recent studies have increasingly examined how these personality traits relate to loneliness in older adults. Understanding this relationship is important because personality trait may influence both exposure to social situation and emotional relax relaxation to these situations. Thus, personality trait may seep not only size of individual social network but also how satisfying those relationship perceived to be. The purpose of this review is to synthesize existing literature on the relationship between personality traits and loneliness in older adults. Specifically, it aim to discuss the concept and prevalence of loneliness in later life, explain the Big Five model of personality, examine empirical evidences linking each personality trait with loneliness, explore the psychological mechanism connecting personality and loneliness, and highlight implications for intervention and future research.

Methodology

This narrative review synthesize empirical evidences on relationship between Big Five personality traits and loneliness in older adults (60+) drawing from the peer review literature to identify pattern mechanism and implications.

2.1 Literature Search: Key sources were identified through targeted search of Academics database including PubMed, PsychINFO, Google Scholar, and Web of Science, spanning January 2000 to March 2026. Search item Combined Personality traits ("Big Five, ",Neurotism, "Extraversion, " Agreeableness", "Consciousness," "Openness") with loneliness indicators ("loneliness," social isolation," emotional loneliness") and aging keywords ("older adults, "elderly, "geronotology, "aging"). Hand-searching of references list from Seminal work (e.g., Buecker et al., 2020; Holt-Lunstad et al., 2015) supplemented the process.

Inclusion and exclusion criteria:

Studies were included if they: (a) empirically examined Big Five traits and loneliness in adults aged 60+; (b) were published in English;

(c) used validated measures (e.g., NEO-PI-R for personality, UCLA Loneliness Scale); and (d) reported quantitative or qualitative findings. Excluded were non-empirical works (e.g., commentaries), studies focused on younger populations, or those lacking Big Five specificity. "Approximately 55 primary studies and meta-analyses met the inclusion criteria; of these, 35 key sources are cited and discussed in detail in this review."

Concept of Loneliness in Older Adults

Loneliness is a complex emotional state characterized by feeling of isolation, lack of companionship, and dissatisfaction with social relationships. Differentiating between social isolation and loneliness is crucial. While loneliness is a subjective belief that one's social relationships are inadequate or unsatisfactory, social isolation is an objective situation for having few social interactions (Perlman & Peplau, 1981) [22] . Researchers often distinguish between two forms of loneliness:

• The lack of a close emotional bond, like a spouse or intimate partner, can lead to emotional loneliness. • Social loneliness, which is brought on by the absence of friends or a larger social network.

Older adults may experience both type of loneliness due to life transition and alters their social environments for example, widowhood may lead to emotional loneliness while retirement or relocation may reduce opportunity for social interaction and lead to social loneliness (World Health Organization 2025) [31] .

Risk Factors

Several factors increase the risk of loneliness among older adults:

• Retirement and reduced daily social interactions.

• Death of spouse, friends, or family members.

• Declining physical health.

• Living alone • Institutionalization or relocation

Health implications

Loneliness has serious implication for mental and physical health. Studies have shown that loneliness is strongly associated with depression, anxiety, self-disturbance, and cognitive decline (Cacioppo & Hawkley, 2009) [4] . Long term loneliness can also increase stress response and inflammation contributing to chronic health conditions. However older adults may widely in how they experience loneliness. Some individuals maintain strong social network and emotional resiliency despite age-related challenges. These differences suggest that individual psychological factors, including vulnerabilities towards loneliness may be significantly influenced by personality factors.

Personality Traits: The Big Five Model

Personality traits and thinking, emotion, and habits of behaviour that define people and affect how they engage with their surroundings. The Big Five personality model is one of the most popular and empirically verified personality theories (Costa & McCrae, 1992) [5] . The Big Five model includes five broad dimensions

Neuroticism

Neuroticism reflects a tendency towards emotional instability and negative emotions such as anxiety, sadness, irritability, and vulnerability to stress. Individuals high in Neuroticism are more likely to experience psychological distress and interpret situation negatively.

Extraversion

Extraversion refers to sociability, assertiveness and positive emotionality. Extroverted individual tend to be energetic, outgoing, and motivated to engage in social interactions.

Openness to Experience

Curiosity, imagination, inventiveness, and a readiness to try new things are all reflected in openness to experience. People with a high openness score are frequently inquisitive and open to new concepts and pursuits.

Agreeableness

Agreeableness reflects interpersonal warmth, empathy, trust, and cooperation. People who are highly pleasant typically preserve healthy relationships and demonstrate empathy for others.

Consciousness

Consciousness reflects self-discipline, organization, responsibility, and goal-directed behaviour. Individual high in consciousness tend to be reliable and effective in maintaining commitments.

Although personality trait developed in early life they remain relatively stable across adulthood. Research suggests that personality traits continue to influence social relationship, emotional regulation, and coping strategies throughout the lifespan (Roberts et al., 2006) [23] . Consequently personality trait developed in early life stage may shape how individual experience social relationship and loneliness in later life.

Personality Traits and Loneliness in Older Adults

Neuroticism and Loneliness

Among the Big Five traits, neuroticism has been consistently identified as one of the strongest protector of loneliness. Individuals high neuroticism are prone to negative emotional states, including anxiety, insecurity, and fear of rejections. These tendency make it more difficult for them to develop maintain satisfying social relationships.

Researchers research suggests that people high neuroticism may interpret social interaction more negatively and perceive lower level of social support even when support is available (Lakey & Orehek, 2011) [14] . As a result, they may experience feeling of loneliness despite having social contacts.

Longitudinal studies have shown that higher neuroticism predicts increased loneliness overtime in older adults (Ormstad et al., 2020) [20] . Neuroticism may also contribute to social withdrawals which further reduce opportunities for meaningful interaction.

Recent research has also suggested that loneliness may mediate the relationship between neuroticism and social fatality a condition characterized by reduced social participation and vulnerability in older age (Sardella et al., 2025) [24] . [27] . Extraverted individual often experience positive emotions during social interactions, which strengthens their relationship and increase social satisfaction (Li et al., 2022) [15] . Furthermore extraversion may help individuals cope with life transition in later life. For example, extraverted older adults may actively seek new social opportunities after retirements or widowhood, thereby reducing the risk of loneliness (ELSA Project, 2024) [8] . The number of close friend also mediate the relationship between extraversion and reduced loneliness.

Extraversion and

Agreeableness and Loneliness

Agreeableness reflects warmth, empathy, and trust in interpersonal relationships. According to Jensen et al.

(2003) [13] , people with high agreeableness tend to be helpful and cooperative, which can promote excellent social interactions.

Higher agreeableness may be linked to more support from others and less loneliness, according to a number of research (Tapia-Muñoz et al., 2023) [27] . However, findings are not entirely consistent. Some research indicates that the relationship between agreeableness and loneliness may vary depending on gender and social context (Itzick & Zychlinski, 2020; Li et al., 2022) [12,15] . For example, one longitudinal study found that higher agreeableness reduced loneliness among men but increased loneliness among women (Dalal et al., 2018) [6] . One explanation is that highly agreeableness individual may privatize others' needs over their own, which may lead to unmet emotional needs in certain contexts.

Conscientiousness and Loneliness

Conscientiousness is associated with self-discipline, reliability and responsibility. These characteristics may help individual maintain long-term relationship and engage in behaviour that supports social well-being (Ozer & Benet-Martinez, 2006) [21] .

Research indicates that conscious individual may often maintain healthier lifestyle and stronger social ties, which may protect against loneliness (Shanahan et al., 2014; ELSA Project, 2024) [26,8] . Conversely lower consciousness may increase likelihood of loneliness particularly among older men (Tapia-Muñoz et al., 2023) [27] . Conscientious individual may also be more proactive in maintaining social connections and participating in community activities.

Openness to Experience and Loneliness

Openness to experience reflects curiosity and willingness to engage in new activities older adults high in openness may be more likely to participate in cultural educational or social activities which can increase opportunities for social interactions (Schutter et al., 2020) [25] . Evidence from aging populations also supports the association between personality traits and loneliness. For instance, Netz et al. (2013) [18] found that higher neuroticism and lower extraversion were associated with greater loneliness among older adults.

Individuals high in openness may also adapt more easily to life transition such as retirement or relocation by exploring new social roles and activities.

Mechanisms Linking Personality and Loneliness

Several psychological mechanism explain how personality trait influence loneliness (Wang & Dong, 2018) [30] . [10,5] . High neurotism is linked to poor emotional regulation and heightened stress response during social encounters.

Cognitive interpretation:

Personality shapes how individual interpreted social interactions. For example, individuals high in neurotism may perceive rejections more easily and interpret neutral social cues as negative (Buecker et al., 2020; Ormstad et al., 2020) [2,20] . These cognitive bias contribute to feelings social disconnection. [27,15] . Conscientious individual also sustain more stable long term connections.

Conceptual Model

Implications for Mental Health and Aging

Understanding the relationship between personality traits and loneliness has important implication for promoting healthy aging.

Interventions

• Community program promoting social participation.

• Psychological interventions targeting maladaptive emotional patterns. • Counselling to improve coping strategies.

• Personality informed social support programs.

Recognizing personality differences can help identify older adults who may be at a greater risk of loneliness (Netz et al., 2013) [18] .

Conclusion

This review demonstrates that personality trait within the Big Five framework play a crucial role in shaping vulnerability to loneliness among older adults. Evidence from meta-analytic and longitudinal research show that neuroticism is the strongest risk factor, contributing to negative cognition, emotional instability, and social withdrawal, whereas extraversion and consciousness act as a protective factors by promoting social engagement and relationship maintenance. Agreeableness and openness show more context-dependent association influenced by factors such as gender and life transitions. This literature also highlights importance mediating mechanism. Friendship characteristics, including quality and social network size, mediate the relationship, between personality and loneliness, while loneliness itself serves as a pathway linking personality-particularly neuroticism to outcomes such as social frailty. Moreover, perceived social isolation have significant cognitive psychological, and physiological consequences, and is associated with increased mortality risk, underscoring its public health importance.

Longitudinal research further emphasizes the role of social relationship, health, and the life circumstances in shaping Loneliness overtime. Overall, these findings support the need for personality informed approaches in geriatric care. Tailored interventions targeting specific personality profiles can help identify at-risk individual and improve emotional well-being, while reducing outcomes such as depression, cognitive decline and social frailty. Future research should focus on longitudinal and crosscultural design and evaluate the evidences of targeted intervention. Addressing loneliness through personality based perspective offer a promising approach for promoting resilience, social connectedness and healthy aging.

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