The largest genetic study of personality yet has found 1,260 DNA variants linked to the Big Five traits, 824 of them new. The genetic signals hold up remarkably well across countries, age groups and questionnaires, and unlike many other behavioral traits, they are barely distorted by family background.
The work comes from the Revived Genomics of Personality Consortium, a team of 138 researchers led by first author Ted Schwaba of Michigan State University and senior author Elliot M. Tucker-Drob of the University of Texas at Austin. It was published in Nature on September 2, 2026, and is open access.
Up to 1.14 million people, 46 cohorts
The researchers pooled genome-wide association studies from 46 cohorts, with between 611,037 and 1.14 million participants per trait. They covered extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience, in people with European-like and African-like genomes. A separate within-family analysis drew on up to 50,725 people from 12 cohorts.
The jump in discoveries is large. Significant loci for conscientiousness rose from 3 in recent work to 131, for openness from 8 to 126, and for extraversion from 14 to 258. Neuroticism went from 224 to 706.
Each variant matters very little on its own. The typical extraversion variant shifts a person from the 50th to about the 50.35th percentile. Common variants together explained 4.8 percent of differences in agreeableness up to 9.3 percent for extraversion, rising to 9.3 to 13.3 percent with questionnaires of typical reliability. The authors note this is far below the 40 to 60 percent heritability from twin and family studies, and that environment matters substantially for every trait.
Consistent across countries and raters
Genetic effects were similar across the U.S., continental Europe, the Nordic countries and the UK and Australia, with an average genetic correlation of 0.86. In the Estonian Biobank, where close others also rated participants, self-reports and others’ reports overlapped strongly at 0.84, so the genetics are not just a matter of how people see themselves. Agreeableness was the least consistent trait.
Within-family estimates were close to the population results. For traits like educational attainment, depression and income, such comparisons can cut heritability estimates by up to 50 percent. For personality, only openness showed a significant gap, and spouses were only very slightly matched on personality genetics.
Polygenic scores built from the results predicted all five traits in five independent cohorts, and for the first time also predicted extraversion, neuroticism and openness in people with African-like genomes.
Links to health, habits and even survey answers
Genes linked to conscientiousness went with less substance use, more sport, fewer hospital spells and lower body mass index. Openness genetics went with more night-time activity, and conscientiousness with more daytime movement.
Neuroticism genetics were tied to higher risk across all ten psychiatric disorders studied, especially internalizing disorders, while agreeableness genetics looked broadly protective. In the UK Biobank, neuroticism-linked variants went with completing fewer questionnaires and more “I don’t know” answers, which the authors say may quietly shape who ends up in survey-based research.
The authors stress that even direct genetic effects do not determine anyone’s personality; they act probabilistically across large groups and through experience.
Study Details:
- Title: Robust inference and correlates from genetic associations with personality
- Authors: Ted Schwaba, Margaret L. Clapp Sullivan, Wonuola A. Akingbuwa, Kerli Ilves, Peter T. Tanksley, Camille M. Williams, Yavor Dragostinov, Travis T. Mallard, Justin D. Tubbs, Wangjingyi Liao, Lindsay S. Ackerman, Josephine C. M. Fealy, Gibran Hemani, Javier de la Fuente, George Davey Smith, Priya Gupta, Murray B. Stein, Joel Gelernter, Daniel F. Levey, Urmo Võsa, Liisi Ausmees, Anu Realo, Mariliis Vaht, Jüri Allik, Tõnu Esko, René Mõttus, Uku Vainik, Gudrun A. Jonsdottir, Gudmar Thorleifsson, Árni Freyr Gunnarsson, Gyda Bjornsdottir, Thorgeir E. Thorgeirsson, Hreinn Stefansson, Kari Stefansson, Rosa Cheesman, Qi Qin, Elizabeth C. Corfield, Helga Ask, Fartein Ask Torvik, Eivind Ystrom, Martin Tesli, Dorret I. Boomsma, Eco J. C. de Geus, Jouke-Jan Hottenga, Dener Cardoso Melo, Harold Snieder, Catharina A. Hartman, Charley Xia, Archie Campbell, Michelle Luciano, Ian J. Deary, W. David Hill, Seon-Kyeong Jang, Scott I. Vrieze, Gonçalo Abecasis, Michelle K. Lupton, Brittany L. Mitchell, Petra V. Viher, Lucía Colodro-Conde, Nicholas G. Martin, Sarah E. Medland, Eske M. Derks, Briar Wormington, Jaakko Kaprio, Karri Silventoinen, Teemu Palviainen, Agnieszka Musial, Kaili Rimfeld, Robert Plomin, Margherita Malanchini, Danielle M. Dick, Fazil Aliev, Laura W. Wesseldijk, Fredrik Ullén, Miriam A. Mosing, Henry R. Kranzler, Yaira Nunez, Sarah Beck, Renato Polimanti, Tobias Edwards, Alexandros Giannelis, Emily A. Willoughby, James J. Lee, Matt McGue, Antonio Terracciano, Michele Marongiu, Edoardo Fiorillo, Francesco Cucca, Angelina R. Sutin, Peter J. van der Most, Albertine J. Oldehinkel, Tina Kretschmer, Andrey A. Shabalin, Anna R. Docherty, Robert F. Krueger, Colin D. Freilich, Binisha H. Mishra, Terho Lehtimäki, Olli T. Raitakari, Mika Kähönen, Aino Saarinen, Henrik Dobewall, Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen, Klaus Berger, Marisol Herrera-Rivero, Fabian Streit, Swapnil Awasthi, Stephanie H. Witt, Johanna Tuhkanen, Katri Räikkönen, Johan G. Eriksson, Jari Lahti, Gail Davies, Paul Redmond, Adele Taylor, Janie Corley, Tom C. Russ, Marina Ciullo, Teresa Nutile, Jun Ding, Yong Qian, Toshiko Tanaka, Luigi Ferrucci, Lea Zillich, Lea Sirignano, K. Paige Harden, Erhan Genç, Patrick D. Gajewski, Stephan Getzmann, Christoph Fraenz, Javier E. Schneider Peñate, Stefanie Lis, Alisha S. M. Hall, Christian Schmahl, Sabine C. Herpertz, Abdel Abdellaoui, Michel G. Nivard, Elliot M. Tucker-Drob
- Journal: Nature
- Publication Date: September 2, 2026
- DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10992-9