Social norms and loneliness

Abstract

Social norms — as defining features of culture — seem to influence how lonely people feel and what they feel lonely for. For one, social norms can affect the prevalence of loneliness risks (i.e. how common certain risks are). The more common one-person households are, for example, the more prevalent the loneliness risk of social isolation becomes. Furthermore, social norms can influence the predictive strength of loneliness risks (i.e. how strongly they are associated with loneliness) — for instance, by determining which characteristics people are socially sanctioned for (e.g. homosexuality, shyness) or which relationship characteristics they feel dissatisfied with. The more common it is to be in a partnership, for example, the more strongly singlehood may predict relationship dissatisfaction and, thus, loneliness. This review summarizes theorizing and the scarce empirical evidence about the influence of social norms on loneliness, suggesting a need for context-specific rather than one-size-fits-all interventions.