LONELINESS IN NORTH AMERICA AND SPAIN

The present study examined the influence of cultural background on the experience of loneliness. Six hundred and thirty-seven participants from North America and 454 from Spain volunteered to answer an 82-item questionnaire 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, and Self-alienation. Results indicated that cultural background, indeed, affects the experience of loneliness. North Americans scored higher on all five factors, and a similar trend was evident when men and women were compared across cultures.