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, ...
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, simply accentuated
them. We found the most vulnerable to loneliness were younger men living in individualistic
cultures.