Encyclopedia of Health and Behavior

Abstract

Loneliness has been defined as the unpleasant experience that occurs when a person's network of social relationships is deficient in some important way, either quantitatively or qualitatively. Loneliness can be mild and fleeting but it can also be a persisting, distressing experience. Robert Weiss has identified two main types of loneliness: social loneliness stemming from the absence of an adequate social network, and emotional loneliness stemming from the absence of emotional attachments provided by intimate relationships. The proportion of people who acknowledge loneliness varies as a function of various factors including the exact wording of the question posed (the nature of the loneliness described, the time span involved, etc.). Nonetheless, loneliness is clearly a widespread phenomenon. In one benchmark national survey of U.S. residents, 26% said they had felt “very lonely or remote from other people” in the past few weeks. Among adults in 18 countries, U.S. participants ranked Sociologists