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Cited by 828Health disparities and outcomesCultural Differences and ValuesDeath Anxiety and Social Exclusion

Loneliness around the world: age, gender, and cultural differences in loneliness

Open access
Barreto, Manuela, Victor, Christina, Hammond, Claudia, Eccles, Alice, Richins, Matt T., Qualter, Pamela·2021·Personality and Individual Differences
DOI 10.1016/j.paid.2020.110066PMC PMC7768187
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Abstract

The BBC Loneliness Experiment provided a unique opportunity to examine differences in the experience of lonelines across cultures, age, and gender, and the interaction between these factors. Using those data, we analysed the frequency of loneliness reported by 46,054 participants aged 16-99 years, living across 237 countries, islands, and territories, representing the full range of individualism-collectivism cultures, as defined by Hofstede (1997). Findings showed that loneliness increased with individualism, decreased with age, and was greater in men than in women. We also found that age, gender, and culture interacted to predict loneliness, although those interactions did not qualify the main effects, and simply accentuated them. We found the most vulnerable to loneliness were younger men living in individualistic cultures

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  • Differences in correlates of loneliness may be expected in India because of collectivism, the family system, and more restrictive norms about social relationships.

    “Despite most studies on loneliness among the oldest-old in Western or high-income countries, much less is known about loneliness among the oldest-old in India, a country where collectivism, the family system, and more restrictive (i.e., more, tighter, or more demanding) norms about social relationships are emphasized, differences in correlates of loneliness may be expected [2,12,21,33].”

    From Factors associated with loneliness in a national study among persons 80 years and older in India in 2017-2018 (2025) · cites this paper as [2]

    The Introduction (‘Is loneliness affected by culture?’; page unavailable) describes collectivist cultures as having tighter, family-centered social networks. The Introduction (‘How might age affect loneliness?’; page unavailable) also suggests that cultural differences may change the drivers of loneliness across age groups. Our copy does not establish that these norms characterize India specifically or examine correlates among India’s oldest-old. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Jopling K. Sserwanja I. Loneliness across the life course: A rapid review of evidence 2016 Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation London

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Authors
Barreto, M., Victor, C., Hammond, C., Eccles, A., Richins, M. T., & Qualter, P.
Affiliations
  • University of Exeter (GB)
  • Brunel University of London (GB)
  • British Broadcasting Corporation (United Kingdom) (GB)
  • University of Manchester (GB)
Corresponding author
  • Barreto, Manuela
  • Qualter, Pamela
ORCID
Venue
Personality and Individual Differences
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2021-02
Volume
169
Pages
110066
ISSN
0191-8869 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.paid.2020.110066
PMC
PMC7768187
OpenAlex
W3017163010
Cited by
828
References
44
Citations by year
2026: 138 · 2025: 173 · 2024: 171 · 2023: 142 · 2022: 108 · 2021: 80 · 2020: 16
FWCI
47.89
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Personality and Individual Differences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Open Research Exeter (University of Exeter) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Brunel University Research Archive (BURA) (Brunel University London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Research Explorer (The University of Manchester) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Wellcome Trust (209625/Z/17/Z)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Cultural Differences and Values
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
Keywords
loneliness, age differences, gender differences, cultural differences, individualism-collectivism, cross-cultural comparison, interaction effects, young men

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