THE LONELINESS EXPERIENCE IN A CULTURAL-CONTEXT

Loneliness is a pervasive social problem and is experienced universall y. The present study explored the influence of cultural background on the experience of loneliness. Participants in the present study repres ented three cultural backgrounds: North American, South Asian, and Wes t Indian. Six hundred seventy-nine participants (318 men and 361 women ) answered a 15-item loneliness questionnaire. Results indicated signi ficant differences in the experience of loneliness amongst the three c ultural subgroups. No gender differences were found within each of the se populations.