The effects of culture on the meaning of loneliness

The present study examined the influence of cultural background on the expe rience of loneliness. Three hundred and seventy five participants from Nort h America and 375 from Croatia volunteered to answer an 82 item questionnai re which examined the quality of their loneliness experiences. The factors which comprise the experience of loneliness are Emotional distress, Social inadequacy and alienation, Growth and discovery, Interpersonal isolation, a nd Self-alienation. Results indicated that cultural background, indeed, aff ects the experience of loneliness. North Americans scored higher on all fiv e factors, and a similar trend was evident when men and women were compared across cultures.