As public debate and discussion over the status of men in America continues, some have raised concerns about men’s struggles with loneliness. A new Pew Research Center survey finds that, compared with women, men don’t report that they feel lonely more often or have fewer close friends. However, men do seem to turn to their networks less often for social connection and emotional support.

About one-in-six Americans (16%) say they feel lonely or isolated from those around them all or most of the time – including roughly equal shares of men and women. About four-in-ten adults (38%) say they sometimes feel lonely, and 47% say they hardly ever or never do.

While experiences with loneliness don’t differ much by gender, they do differ significantly by age.

Adults younger than 50 are much more likely than those ages 50 and older to say they often feel lonely (22% vs. 9%). Across age groups, adults 65 and older are the most likely to say they hardly ever or never feel this way (66%).

We also asked Americans where they would turn for emotional support if they needed it. Women are more likely than men to say they’d be extremely or very likely to turn to each of the following sources for this type of support:

• Their mother (54% of women vs. 42% of men)¹
• A friend (54% vs. 38%)
• Another family member who is not their parent, spouse or partner (44% vs. 26%)
• A mental health professional (22% vs. 16%)

Men and women are about equally likely to say they have at least one close friend – and most do. But men who have close friends don’t communicate with them as often as women do. Higher shares of women than men say they send text messages, interact on social media, and talk on the phone or video chat with a close friend at least a few times a week.

Related: How Americans See Men and Masculinity

This nationally representative survey of 6,204 U.S. adults was conducted Sept. 3-15, 2024, using the Center’s American Trends Panel.²

Other important findings

• Emotional well-being is linked with education, income and marital status. Adults with some college or less education, those with lower incomes and those who are not married are among the most likely to say they feel lonely all or most of the time. These groups are also among the least likely to say they feel optimistic about their life.
• Adults younger than 50 are more likely than those ages 50 and older to say they’d be extremely or very likely to turn to a mental health professional for emotional support (24% vs. 14%). In addition, higher shares of Black (26%) and Hispanic (25%) adults say they’d be likely to do this compared with White (16%) and Asian (17%) adults.
• Two-thirds of Americans say all-female social groups have a positive impact on women’s well-being. This is higher than the share saying all-male groups have a positive impact on men’s well-being (56%). Americans are also more likely to say women-only groups have a positive impact on society than to say the same about all-male groups (57% vs. 43%).

To better understand Americans’ well-being, we asked U.S. adults how often they feel lonely or isolated from those around them and how often they feel optimistic about their lives.

How often do Americans feel lonely?

There are differences across demographic groups in the shares saying they feel lonely or isolated all or most of the time. The following groups are among the most likely to say they often feel this way:

• Adults younger than 50
• Adults with some college or less education
• Lower-income Americans
• Adults who are unpartnered or living with a partner they’re not married to

There is no significant difference between the shares of men and women saying they often feel lonely or isolated. This remains true across all age groups.

How often do Americans feel optimistic?

A majority of adults (58%) say they feel optimistic about their life all or most of the time, while 32% say they feel this way sometimes. One-in-ten say they hardly ever or never feel optimistic.

As is the case with feelings of loneliness, the shares saying they often feel optimistic vary by age, education, income and marital status. For the most part, the patterns are the opposite of what we see with loneliness.

These groups are among the most likely to say they feel optimistic all or most of the time:

• Adults ages 50 and older
• Adults with a bachelor’s degree or more education
• Upper-income adults
• Married adults

About three-quarters of U.S. adults (74%) say they would be extremely or very likely to turn to their spouse or partner if they needed emotional support.³

Men and women are equally likely to say they’d lean on their spouse or partner in this way.

Mothers and friends are also frequent sources of support: 48% of adults point to their mother and 46% point to a friend as someone they’d be extremely or very likely to go to. Smaller shares would go to their father (28%) or to another family member (35%).

There are significant gender differences when it comes to certain sources of support. By margins ranging from 12 to 18 percentage points, greater shares of women than men say they’d be extremely or very likely to turn to:

• Their mother (54% of women vs. 42% of men)
• A friend (54% vs. 38%)
• Another family member who is not their parent, spouse or partner (44% vs. 26%)

Turning to mental health professionals and online communities

Americans are less likely to say they’d turn to a mental health professional for emotional support than to say they’d turn to family or friends. About one-in-five adults (19%) say they’d be extremely or very likely to turn to a mental health professional for this type of support.

Some demographic groups are more likely than others to say they’d be extremely or very likely to seek out a mental health professional:

• Women are more likely to say this than men (22% vs. 16%).
• Black (26%) and Hispanic (25%) adults are more likely to say this than White (16%) and Asian (17%) adults.
• Adults younger than 50 are more likely to say this than those ages 50 and older (24% vs. 14%).

When it comes to seeking emotional support from online platforms or communities, relatively small shares of adults say they would be extremely or very likely to do this (5% overall).

Getting emotional support today versus 20 years ago

We also asked Americans how they think men and women are doing compared with 20 years ago in terms of having someone to turn to for emotional support. On balance, the public thinks men and women are doing better in this area than they were two decades ago.

Some 47% of adults say men are doing a lot or somewhat better, 20% say they’re doing a lot or somewhat worse, and 32% say they’re doing neither better nor worse. There’s a similar pattern for women: 51% say they’re doing better, 14% say they’re doing worse, and 34% say neither better nor worse.

Women are more likely than men to say that men are doing better these days when it comes to having someone to turn to for emotional support (51% vs. 42%). Similar shares of men (50%) and women (52%) say women are doing better compared with 20 years ago.

Communicating with friends

We also asked Americans about their friends and how they stay in touch with them. About eight-in-ten adults (81%) say they have at least one close friend – not counting their family members – and most (64%) have more than one close friend. About one-in-five (18%) say they don’t have any close friends.

Among adults who have close friends, 74% say they connect with one at least a few times a week, whether by texting, interacting on social media, talking on the phone or video chatting, or seeing them in person. 

Texting is the most common form of communication between friends. Most adults with close friends (61%) say they text one either a few times a week or daily.

Sizable shares also interact with friends on social media (39%) or talk to them via phone or video chat (35%). About three-in-ten (29%) say they see a close friend in person at least a few times a week.

Differences by gender and age

There are large differences in how often men and women text or interact on social media with close friends. Women are more likely than men to say they communicate frequently in these ways by margins of 10 points or more.

Women are also somewhat more likely than men to talk on the phone or video chat with a close friend at least a few times a week (38% vs. 32%). But men (31%) are somewhat more likely than women (28%) to say they frequently see friends in person.

This gender gap is fairly consistent across adults ages 30 to 49, 50 to 64, and 65 and older. However, among those younger than 30, men and women are about equally likely to communicate with close friends in these ways.

Looking just at age, adults younger than 30 are the most likely to say they text (72%) or interact on social media (60%) with a close friend at least a few times a week. Those ages 65 and older are the least likely to say they regularly use these forms of communication.

We were also interested in learning how the public feels about same-gender organized social groups or places where men can gather with other men and women with other women.

Majorities of U.S. adults say these groups have a positive impact on the well-being of men and women, respectively. Still, more say all-female groups have a positive impact on women’s well-being (67%) than say the same about the impact of male-only groups on men (56%).

In thinking about the impact these types of groups have on society, a majority of Americans (57%) say that all-female social groups have a very or somewhat positive effect; a smaller share (43%) say the same about all-male groups.

Differences by gender

Men and women both see more benefits in all-female groups than in all-male groups.

Among men

• 63% of men say all-female groups have a positive impact on women’s well-being; 57% say all-male groups have a positive impact on men’s well-being.
• 55% say all-female groups have a positive impact on society overall; 47% say the same about all-male groups.

Among women

• 71% of women say all-female groups have a positive impact on women’s well-being; 56% say all-male groups have positive impact on men’s well-being.
• 59% say all-female groups have a positive impact on society overall; 39% say the same about all-male groups.

Differences by party

Republicans and Democrats have different views on the impact of same-gender social groups.

By double-digit margins, larger shares of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents than Democrats and Democratic leaners say that all-male social groups have a positive impact on men’s overall well-being (63% vs. 50%) and on society (50% vs. 37%).

In turn, more Democrats than Republicans say that all-female social groups benefit both women’s overall well-being (72% vs. 65%) and society (64% vs. 53%).

There are some notable differences by gender within each party. Democratic women are the most likely to say that all-female groups are beneficial for women and society. For example, 76% of Democratic women say all-female groups have a positive impact on women’s overall well-being. This compares with 70% of Republican women, 67% of Democratic men and 60% of Republican men.

In turn, Republican men are the most likely to say all-male groups have a positive impact on society – 54% say this, compared with 45% of Republican women, 40% of Democratic men and only 34% of Democratic women.

Pew Research Center received invaluable advice in developing the study from Christine Emba, staff writer at The Atlantic; Richard Reeves, president, Alanna Williams, associate director, and Ben Smith, research associate at the American Institute for Boys and Men; and Andrew Smiler, licensed therapist and past president of the Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinities.

This report is a collaborative effort based on the input and analysis of the following individuals. Find related reports online at pewresearch.org/topic/gender-lgbtq.

Kim Parker, Director of Social Trends Research
Juliana Horowitz, Senior Associate Director, Research
Isabel Goddard, Former Research Associate          
Rachel Minkin, Research Associate
Luona Lin, Research Associate
Kiley Hurst, Research Analyst             
Dana Braga, Research Analyst
Reem Nadeem, Digital Producer        
John Carlo Mandapat, Information Graphics Designer     
Anna Jackson, Editorial Assistant                                              
Julia O’Hanlon, Communications Manager
Maya Pottiger, Communications Associate

In addition, the project benefited greatly from the guidance of the Pew Research Center methodology team: Courtney Kennedy, Andrew Mercer, Ashley Amaya, Dorene Asare-Marfo, Dana Popky, Anna Brown and Arnold Lau.

We also received invaluable input on the questionnaire and the report from the following colleagues: Carroll Doherty, Jordan Lippert, Besheer Mohamed, Justin Nortey, Greg Smith and Alec Tyson.

The American Trends Panel survey methodology

Overview

Data in this report comes from Wave 154 of the American Trends Panel (ATP), Pew Research Center’s nationally representative panel of randomly selected U.S. adults. The survey was conducted Sept. 3-15, 2024. A total of 6,204 panelists responded out of 8,216 who were sampled, for a survey-level response rate of 76%. This includes 5,202 respondents from the ATP and an additional 1,002 from the SSRS Opinion Panel.

The cumulative response rate accounting for nonresponse to the recruitment surveys and attrition is 2%. The break-off rate among panelists who logged on to the survey and completed at least one item is 2%. The margin of sampling error for the full sample of 6,204 respondents is plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.

The survey includes an oversample of Hispanic adults and non-Hispanic Black adults in order to provide more precise estimates of the opinions and experiences of these smaller demographic subgroups. These oversampled groups are weighted back to reflect their correct proportions in the population.

SSRS conducted the survey for Pew Research Center via online (n=5,974) and live telephone (n=230) interviewing. Interviews were conducted in both English and Spanish.

To learn more about the ATP, read “About the American Trends Panel.”

Panel recruitment

Since 2018, the ATP has used address-based sampling (ABS) for recruitment. A study cover letter and a pre-incentive are mailed to a stratified, random sample of households selected from the U.S. Postal Service’s Computerized Delivery Sequence File. This Postal Service file has been estimated to cover 90% to 98% of the population.⁴ Within each sampled household, the adult with the next birthday is selected to participate. Other details of the ABS recruitment protocol have changed over time but are available upon request.⁵ Prior to 2018, the ATP was recruited using landline and cellphone random-digit-dial surveys administered in English and Spanish.

A national sample of U.S. adults has been recruited to the ATP approximately once per year since 2014. In some years, the recruitment has included additional efforts (known as an “oversample”) to improve the accuracy of data for underrepresented groups. For example, Hispanic adults, Black adults and Asian adults were oversampled in 2019, 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Sample design

The overall target population for this survey was noninstitutionalized persons ages 18 and older living in the United States. It featured a stratified random sample from the ATP in which Hispanic adults, non-Hispanic Black adults and non-Hispanic Asian adults were selected with certainty. The remaining panelists were sampled at rates designed to ensure that the share of respondents in each stratum is proportional to its share of the U.S. adult population to the greatest extent possible. Respondent weights are adjusted to account for differential probabilities of selection as described in the Weighting section below.

The ATP was supplemented with an oversample of self-identified non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic panelists from SSRS’s Opinion Panel.

Questionnaire development and testing

The questionnaire was developed by Pew Research Center in consultation with SSRS. The web program used for online respondents was rigorously tested on both PC and mobile devices by the SSRS project team and Pew Research Center researchers. The SSRS project team also populated test data that was analyzed in SPSS to ensure the logic and randomizations were working as intended before launching the survey.

Incentives

All respondents were offered a post-paid incentive for their participation. Respondents could choose to receive the post-paid incentive in the form of a check or gift code to Amazon.com, Target.com or Walmart.com.  Incentive amounts ranged from $5 to $20 for ATP respondents, and $5 to $10 for SSRS Opinion Panel respondents, depending on whether the respondent belongs to a part of the population that is harder or easier to reach. Differential incentive amounts were designed to increase panel survey participation among groups that traditionally have low survey response propensities.

Data collection protocol

The data collection field period for this survey was Sept. 3-15, 2024. Surveys were conducted via self-administered web survey or by live telephone interviewing.

For panelists who take surveys online:⁶ Postcard notifications were mailed to a subset of ATP panelists on Sept. 3.⁷ Survey invitations were sent out in two separate launches: soft launch and full launch. Sixty panelists were included in the soft launch for ATP, which began with an initial invitation sent on Sept. 3. All remaining English- and Spanish-speaking sampled online panelists were included in the full launch and were sent an invitation on Sept. 4. For the SSRS Opinion Panel, 112 panelists were included in the soft launch, which began with an initial invitation sent on Sept. 4. All remaining SSRS panelists were included in the full launch and were sent an invitation on Sept. 5.

Panelists participating online were sent an email invitation and up to four email reminders if they did not respond to the survey. ATP panelists who consented to SMS messages were sent an SMS invitation with a link to the survey and up to four SMS reminders.

For panelists who take surveys over the phone with a live interviewer: Prenotification postcards were mailed on Aug. 28, and reminder postcards were mailed on Sept. 3. Soft launch took place on Sept. 3 and involved dialing until a total of three interviews had been completed. All remaining English- and Spanish-speaking sampled phone panelists’ numbers were dialed throughout the remaining field period. Panelists who take surveys via phone can receive up to six calls from trained SSRS interviewers.

Data quality checks

To ensure high-quality data, Center researchers performed data quality checks to identify any respondents showing patterns of satisficing. This includes checking for whether respondents left questions blank at very high rates or always selected the first or last answer presented. As a result of this checking, two ATP respondents were removed from the survey dataset prior to weighting and analysis.

Weighting

This survey is weighted in a process that accounts for multiple stages of sampling and nonresponse that occur at different points in the panel survey process. First, each panelist begins with a base weight that reflects their probability of recruitment into the panel. For ATP panelists, these weights are then calibrated to align with the population benchmarks in the accompanying table to correct for nonresponse to recruitment surveys, panel attrition, and differential probabilities of selection for this specific survey. Base weights for Opinion Panel respondents were provided by SSRS.

The weights for respondents from each sample were then rescaled and combined to account for the inclusion of multiple samples and their designs. The combined weight was then calibrated to align with the population benchmarks identified in the accompanying table and trimmed at the 1st and 99th percentiles to reduce the loss in precision stemming from variance in the weights. Sampling errors and tests of statistical significance take into account the effect of weighting.

The following table shows the unweighted sample sizes and the error attributable to sampling that would be expected at the 95% level of confidence for different groups in the survey.

Sample sizes and sampling errors for other subgroups are available upon request. In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.

Dispositions and response rates

A note about the Asian adult sample

This survey includes a total sample size of 554 Asian adults. The sample primarily includes English-speaking Asian adults and, therefore, may not be representative of the overall Asian adult population. Despite this limitation, it is important to report the views of Asian adults on the topics in this study. As always, Asian adults’ responses are incorporated into the general population figures throughout this report.

© Pew Research Center 2025