Pew Research Center — Men, Women and Social Connections

What the study found

This Pew Research Center survey of 6,204 US adults, fielded in September 2024, measured how often Americans feel lonely and where they turn for emotional support. It found that about one-in-six adults (16 percent) said they feel lonely or isolated all or most of the time, with roughly equal shares of men and women reporting this, while loneliness varied sharply by age (22 percent of adults under 50 versus 9 percent of those 50 and older). It also found that men and women were about equally likely to have at least one close friend, though women were more likely than men to turn to a friend, their mother or a mental health professional for support. ^[1]

men and women were about equally likely to have at least one close friend

^[1]

Why it matters here

The manosphere often frames loneliness as a specifically male crisis and points to it when arguing that large shares of young men are isolated or shut out of relationships. This survey provides a directly relevant benchmark: it records loneliness at similar rates for men and women and finds men and women about equally likely to have a close friend, while showing that age is a much stronger divide than gender. That evidence is cited on is there a male loneliness epidemic? and on are 63 percent of young men single? to help weigh how far the underlying data supports a uniquely male reading of social disconnection.