In a guest post for the Tackling Loneliness Hub, Hans Rocha IJzerman and Sharanya Mosalakanti of the Annecy Behavioral Science Lab explain why ABSL is building a new tool to measure social connection across cultures.
Most current tools were developed with Western, educated populations and then used everywhere. In more than 350 interviews of two to three hours in eight countries (Brazil, Zimbabwe, India, the Philippines, Morocco, Turkey, China, and the United States), people described forms of connection those tools do not pick up. Older women in Zimbabwe spoke of carrying the emotional weight of extended families. In the Philippines, participants described loneliness hidden behind cheerfulness. In Morocco, Turkey, and India, prayer came up as a link to deceased relatives and to communities far away.
The post invites people from around the world to help write questions and test the tool, so that it captures how connection works in different communities.
