Individual Differences in Preference for Solitude

Past research suggests that solitude can have either a positive or a negative impact on a person′s well-being. How time away from others affects people may depend on the person′s general preference for solitude. We present a scale to measure individual differences in preference for solitude. Experiments 1 and 2 report on the development of the Preference for Solitude Scale and provide evidence of its reliability. Experiments 3 and 4 provide discriminant and convergent validity data for the scale. Experiments 5 and 6 use self-report data to demonstrate that scale scores predict the extent to which people spend time by themselves and with others. Experiment 7 uses scale scores to predict the amount of social interaction in a laboratory setting. Experiment 8 demonstrates that scale scores can predict the amount of time people spend alone beyond that predicted by introversion-extraversion. Taken together, the data indicate that the Preference for Solitude Scale assesses individual differences in the extent to which people prefer to spend time alone.