EAST LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — A new study by Michigan State University followed college students after the pandemic and found that many students quickly bounced back from the pandemic.

The report, published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, tracked 248 MSU college students from 2020-2025 using self-reported data and investigated how their personalities affected their well-being after the pandemic.

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Although during the pandemic loneliness spiked, researchers found that overall life satisfaction increased and loneliness decreased five years afterwards in all personality types. That is in line with other research that showed well-being improvements after life-altering events.

College students in the study even looked back on their memories of online learning with greater fondness five years later, according to the study, and reported greater preferences for hybrid and online work environments.

“The fact that people now see remote learning more favorably — even though they hated it at the time — tells us something important about how we design flexible education and work options going forward,” said William Chopik, co-author of the study and associate professor in the Department of Psychology, in a press release. “People’s preferences for remote versus in-person work are tied to who they are as people and how they might work or learn best, so blanket policies probably aren’t the best approach.”

Extroverted students reported slightly higher life satisfaction than more anxious people, but overall, personality was only a small contributor to the rebound effect.

“This study gives us a clearer picture of how personality matters more during crises but less so once things stabilize,” said Logan Gibson, co-author and undergraduate research associate in the release. “It’s reassuring to know that people aren’t locked into bad outcomes just because of their personality traits.”