Social- and emotional loneliness experiences: adding cultural variations to the equation.

Abstract

A short analysis of the literature on loneliness reveals that Weiss’ (1973) social- and emotional loneliness are significant concepts regarding loneliness. However, most studies on these loneliness types are quantitative and/or do not include cultural differences. This thesis aims to add cultural differences to social- and emotional loneliness experiences by analysing data from samples of an individualistic and a collectivistic culture. The findings could contribute to developing a cultural psychology of loneliness and add insights into loneliness types’ experiences in different cultures. Results showed that Weiss’ types of loneliness were not predominant in participants' loneliness experiences in both individualistic and collectivistic cultures. When present, emotional loneliness was linked to interpersonal separations in individualistic cultures, whereas the absence of a partner was central in collectivistic cultures, and social loneliness appeared broadly but not as Weiss hypothesised. This study challenges the emphasis in the literature on social- and emotional loneliness as defined by Weiss.