Job loss is not merely an economic event, but an experience capable of profoundly changing the way people think, respond and relate to others.

This is what emerges from research conducted by Sapienza University of Rome and the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), published in the prestigious Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

The researchers followed more than 1,100 adults over a period of sixteen years, observing changes in key personality traits among both single individuals and those in couples.

There is, in fact, a less visible effect of unemployment that operates beneath the surface and over time: personality changes do not affect only those who lose their jobs, but also those around them.

The data show that people who lose their jobs experience a weakening of certain key characteristics: conscientiousness — the ability to organise oneself and pursue goals — and agreeableness both decline. At the same time, the natural process through which people tend to become more emotionally stable with age is disrupted. In other words, precisely when greater inner resources are needed to cope, these tend to diminish.

But perhaps the most surprising finding concerns what happens within couples. The study demonstrates a “spillover” effect of job loss on the partner. This is not a marginal impact: in some cases, the effects on the personality of the partner who remains employed are even more pronounced than those observed in the person who directly loses their job.

In particular, when one partner loses their job, a complex pattern emerges. Conscientiousness initially tends to be lower and begins to decline before the event, only to increase after the partner’s job loss, as if a compensatory mechanism were activated — an attempt to restore order and a sense of control during a period of instability. By contrast, agreeableness shows a continuous decline: it decreases before, during and, most notably, after the event, following a trajectory of progressively more rigid interpersonal relationships. Extraversion also declines, while openness to experience decreases significantly in the period following the event.

The most significant finding concerns differences related to the gender of the partner who loses their job. The effects on personality are more pronounced when the unemployed partner is a man: in these cases, the person who remains employed shows a more marked decline over time in traits such as agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness to experience. When the partner is a woman, these trajectories are less pronounced, pointing to social dynamics and gender roles that remain deeply rooted.

The implications are far-reaching. If unemployment changes personality, and does so indirectly through close relationships, then its costs extend well beyond economic measures. They affect the quality of relationships, the stability of couples, the ability to cope with stress and the capacity to plan for the future.

References: Alessandri, G., Filosa, L., & Robins, R. W. (2026). Does losing your job change your personality? Findings from a 16-year longitudinal study of Mexican-origin adults. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 

DOI: 10.1037/pspp0000609

Further information

Guido Alessandri – Dipartimento di Psicologia

guido.alessandri@uniroma1.it