A new study led by Michigan State University found that as people get better at handling stress on a daily basis, they also become more extroverted, agreeable and open to new experiences over a nearly 20-year period. Likewise, the worse they manage daily stressors, the more introverted, unfriendly and closed off from new experiences they become.

The study, published in Psychology and Aging, is the largest and longest study to look at how managing stress on a daily basis may translate to personality. 

The study involved over 2,000 people who completed daily diaries three times over an 18-year period (from midlife into older adulthood). Each time, participants reported on their personality traits, various types of stressors, and their emotional experiences for eight days. Researchers then employed a sophisticated statistical analysis to link how people dealt with daily stress to how their personality changed over those 20 years.