Peer-Reviewed Publication
Nature2026September 2, 2026Journal Article
Robust inference and correlates from genetic associations with personality.
Ted Schwaba1, Margaret L Clapp Sullivan2, Wonuola A Akingbuwa3,4, Kerli Ilves5, Peter T Tanksley6, Camille M Williams7, Yavor Dragostinov8,9, Travis T Mallard10,11,12,13, Justin D Tubbs10,11,12,13, Wangjingyi Liao14, Lindsay S Ackerman15, Josephine C M Fealy15, Gibran Hemani16,17, Javier de la Fuente8, George Davey Smith16,17, Priya Gupta18, Murray B Stein19, Joel Gelernter18, Daniel F Levey18, Urmo Võsa5, Liisi Ausmees20, Anu Realo20,21,22, , Mariliis Vaht5, Jüri Allik21, Tõnu Esko5, René Mõttus20,23, Uku Vainik5,21,24, Gudrun A Jonsdottir25, Gudmar Thorleifsson25, Árni Freyr Gunnarsson25, Gyda Bjornsdottir25, Thorgeir E Thorgeirsson25, Hreinn Stefansson25, Kari Stefansson25, Rosa Cheesman26,27, Qi Qin26, Elizabeth C Corfield16,28,29, Helga Ask26,28, Fartein Ask Torvik26,30, Eivind Ystrom26,28,31, Martin Tesli32,33, Dorret I Boomsma34, Eco J C de Geus3,4, Jouke-Jan Hottenga3, Dener Cardoso Melo35, Harold Snieder36, Catharina A Hartman23,35, Charley Xia23,37, Archie Campbell38, Michelle Luciano23, Ian J Deary3,23, W David Hill23,37, Seon-Kyeong Jang39, Scott I Vrieze40,41, Gonçalo Abecasis42, Michelle K Lupton43,44,45, Brittany L Mitchell43,44,45, Petra V Viher43, Lucía Colodro-Conde43,46, Nicholas G Martin43, Sarah E Medland43,46, Eske M Derks43, Briar Wormington43, Jaakko Kaprio47, Karri Silventoinen48, Teemu Palviainen47, Agnieszka Musial14, Kaili Rimfeld49,50, Robert Plomin50, Margherita Malanchini13, Danielle M Dick51,52, Fazil Aliev52, , , Laura W Wesseldijk53,54,55, Fredrik Ullén53,54, Miriam A Mosing54,56,57, Henry R Kranzler58, Yaira Nunez59, Sarah Beck59, Renato Polimanti59, Tobias Edwards40, Alexandros Giannelis40,60, Emily A Willoughby40, James J Lee40, Matt McGue40, Antonio Terracciano61,62, Michele Marongiu63, Edoardo Fiorillo63, Francesco Cucca64, Angelina R Sutin65, Peter J van der Most36, Albertine J Oldehinkel35, Tina Kretschmer66, Andrey A Shabalin67, Anna R Docherty68, Robert F Krueger40, Colin D Freilich40, Binisha H Mishra68,69,70, Terho Lehtimäki68,69,70, Olli T Raitakari71,72,73,74, Mika Kähönen69,75, Aino Saarinen76, Henrik Dobewall77, Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen76, Klaus Berger78, Marisol Herrera-Rivero78,79, Fabian Streit80,81,82, Swapnil Awasthi83, Stephanie H Witt84, Johanna Tuhkanen85, Katri Räikkönen86, Johan G Eriksson86,87,88, Jari Lahti85,87, Gail Davies37, Paul Redmond37, Adele Taylor37, Janie Corley37, Tom C Russ89,90, Marina Ciullo91, Teresa Nutile91, Jun Ding92, Yong Qian92, Toshiko Tanaka92, Luigi Ferrucci92, Lea Zillich84, Lea Sirignano84, K Paige Harden8, Erhan Genç93, Patrick D Gajewski94, Stephan Getzmann94, Christoph Fraenz93, Javier E Schneider Peñate95, Stefanie Lis96,97, Alisha S M Hall83,98,99, Christian Schmahl96, Sabine C Herpertz100, Abdel Abdellaoui55,101, Michel G Nivard102,103, Elliot M Tucker-Drob104,105
1Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA. tedschwaba@gmail.com.
2Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States.
3Department of Biological Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
4Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
5Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
6ALERRT Center, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA.
7Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique (ENS, EHESS, CNRS), École Normale Supérieure, PSL University, Paris, France.
8Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
9Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
10Center for Precision Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
11Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Center for Genomic Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
12Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
13Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA.
14School of Biological and Behavioral Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
15Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
16Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
17Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
18Yale University, Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System, New Haven, CT, USA.
19University of California San Diego, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA.
20Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
21Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
22School of Educational Sciences, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia.
23Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
24Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
25deCODE genetics/Amgen, Reykjavik, Iceland.
26PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
27School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
28PsychGen Centre for Genetic Epidemiology and Mental Health, Division of Public Health and Prevention, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
29Psychiatric Genetic Epidemiology Group, Research Department, Lovisenberg Diaconal Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
30Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
31Centre for Research on Equality in Education, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
32Department of Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
33Department of Psychiatry, Østfold Hospital, Sarpsborg, Norway.
34Department of Complex Trait Genetics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
35Interdisciplinary Center Psychopathology and Emotion Regulation (ICPE), University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
36Epidemiology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
37Lothian Birth Cohort Studies, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
38Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
39Department of Computational Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
40Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
41Minnesota Center for Twin and Family Research, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
42Regeneron Genetics Center, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Tarrytown, NY, USA.
43QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
44Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
45School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
46School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
47Institute for Molecular Medicine FIMM, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
48Population Research Unit, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
49Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway University of London, London, UK.
50Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
51Rutgers Addiction Research Center, Brain Health Institute, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA.
52Department of Psychiatry, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, NJ, USA.
53Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
54Department of Cognitive Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
55Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam University Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
56Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
57Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
58Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
59Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
60Department of Applied Economics, Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
61Department of Geriatrics, College of Medicine, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
62Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, ML, USA.
63Institute for Genetic and Biomedical Research, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Cagliari, Italy.
64Department of Biomedical Sciences, University Study of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
65Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine, College of Medicine, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
66Pedagogical Sciences, Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
67Huntsman Mental Health Institute, Department of Psychiatry, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
68Department of Clinical Chemistry, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.
69Finnish Cardiovascular Research Center Tampere, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.
70Department of Clinical Chemistry, Fimlab Laboratories, Tampere, Finland.
71Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
72Centre for Population Health Research, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
73Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
74InFLAMES Research Flagship, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
75Department of Clinical Physiology, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland.
76Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
77Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
78Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.
79Department of Genetic Epidemiology, Institute of Human Genetics, Göttingen, Germany.
80Hector Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.
81Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.
82German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Partner Site Mannheim-Heidelberg-Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
83Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
84Department of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany.
85Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
86Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
87Folkhälsan Research Centre, Helsinki, Finland.
88Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, National University Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Singapore, Singapore.
89Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
90Division of Psychiatry, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
91Institute of Genetics and Biophysics "Adriano Buzzati-Traverso", CNR, Naples, Italy.
92Translational Gerontology Branch, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, MD, USA.
93Department of Psychology and Neurosciences, Neuroimaging and Interindividual Differences, Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo), Dortmund, Germany.
94Department of Ergonomics, Networking Group Aging, Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo), Dortmund, Germany.
95Department of Psychology, Neuropsychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
96Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany.
97Department of Clinical Psychology, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany.
98Department of Affective Disorders, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
99Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
100Department of Psychosomatic General Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
101Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
102Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. m.g.nivard@bristol.ac.uk.
103Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. m.g.nivard@bristol.ac.uk.
104Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA. tuckerdrob@utexas.edu.
105Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA. tuckerdrob@utexas.edu.
Abstract
Personality traits describe stable differences in how people think, feel and behave, and how they interact with and experience their social and physical environments1,2. Many questions remain unanswered about associations between DNA and personality traits, such as their robustness, their generalizability and the biological and social pathways through which they act. Here we meta-analyse data acro…
Create a free account to keep reading
Free members get 10 full research views every month across publications, clinical trials, FDA clearances, adverse events, and NIH grants. No credit card required.
Want unlimited research access? See Pro plans