ABSTRACT
This first chapter aims to make a case for loneliness being a serious problem that deserves attention from researchers of all academic areas. It starts by discussing two definitions of loneliness, one by academics and the other by the Oxford English Dictionary. Loneliness is an unpleasant emotion due to the absence of desired social relations or the presence of undesired social relations. Some see loneliness as potentially help for spiritual development, but this is not the understanding of loneliness widely adopted in scientific research. Loneliness is a serious problem because it is painful on its own and could lead to serious physical and mental illnesses. Loneliness could be measured with either a single item or a set of questions as a scale, and most measurements have been used on older people or the adult populations. The prevalence of loneliness varies considerably across countries.
