{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T17:38:50Z","timestamp":1777916330638,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,21]],"date-time":"2022-04-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1650499200000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100004440","name":"Wellcome Trust","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["209625\/Z\/17\/Z"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["209625\/Z\/17\/Z"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100004440","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Journal of Social and Personal Relationships"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2022,9]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>The current study uses data from The British Broadcasting Corporation Loneliness Experiment to explore the social stigma of loneliness and how it varies by gender, age and cultural individualism. We examined stigmatizing judgements of people who are lonely (impressions of those who feel lonely and attributions for loneliness), perceived stigma in the community and self-stigma (shame for being lonely and inclination to conceal loneliness), while controlling for participants\u2019 own feelings of loneliness. The scores on most measures fell near the mid-point of the scales, but stigmatizing perceptions depended on the measure of stigmatization that was used and on age, gender and country-level individualism. Multilevel analyses revealed that men had more stigmatizing perceptions, more perceived community stigma, but less self-stigma than women; young people had higher scores than older people on all indicators except for internal versus external attributions and people living in collectivist countries perceived loneliness as more controllable and perceived more stigma in the community than people living in individualistic countries. Finally, young men living in individualistic countries made the most internal (vs. external) attributions for loneliness. We discuss the implications of these findings for understandings of loneliness stigma and interventions to address loneliness.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/02654075221087190","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,21]],"date-time":"2022-04-21T15:56:38Z","timestamp":1650556598000},"page":"2658-2679","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":115,"title":["Exploring the nature and variation of the stigma associated with loneliness"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"39","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6973-7233","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Manuela","family":"Barreto","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, University of Exeter, UK"}]},{"given":"Jolien","family":"van Breen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, University of Exeter, UK"}]},{"given":"Christina","family":"Victor","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Health Sciences, Brunel University, London, UK"}]},{"given":"Claudia","family":"Hammond","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Radio Science Unit, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), London, UK"}]},{"given":"Alice","family":"Eccles","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Manchester Institute of Education, University of Manchester, UK"}]},{"given":"Matthew T","family":"Richins","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, University of Exeter, UK"}]},{"given":"Pamela","family":"Qualter","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Manchester Institute of Education, University of Manchester, UK"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-02654075221087190","unstructured":"Abrams Z. (2019). \u2018Let\u2019s talk loneliness\u2019 campaign launched to tackle stigma of feeling alone. https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/lets-talk-loneliness-campaign-launched-to-tackle-stigma-of-feeling-alone"},{"key":"bibr2-02654075221087190","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.paid.2020.110066"},{"key":"bibr3-02654075221087190","unstructured":"Batsleer J., Duggan J., McNicol S., Spray S., Angel K. (2018). Loneliness connects us: Young people exploring and experiencing loneliness and friendship. 42nd Street."},{"key":"bibr4-02654075221087190","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0146167285111006"},{"key":"bibr5-02654075221087190","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/pspp0000373"},{"key":"bibr6-02654075221087190","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/per.2229"},{"key":"bibr7-02654075221087190","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jrp.2005.11.007"},{"key":"bibr8-02654075221087190","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0146167298243009"},{"key":"bibr9-02654075221087190","unstructured":"Co-op Foundation (2019). All our emotions are important: Breaking the silence about youth loneliness."},{"key":"bibr10-02654075221087190","unstructured":"Co-op Foundation and British Red Cross (2016). Trapped in a bubble: An investigation into the triggers of loneliness in the UK."},{"key":"bibr12-02654075221087190","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0146167201271003"},{"key":"bibr13-02654075221087190","unstructured":"Daily Express (2009). 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