Loneliness in vietnamese and russian students: scale validation and cross-cultural comparisons

<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Context and relevance.</strong> How loneliness is perceived, experienced, and expressed can vary significantly across cultures due to differences in social norms, values, and interpersonal expectations. Therefore, it is crucial to adapt measurement tools to reflect these cultural variations and ensure their relevance. In this regard, the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale is a widely recognized tool for assessing loneliness. However, it requires cultural adaptation and validation to ensure it accurately measures loneliness in diverse cultural contexts.<br><strong>Objective.</strong> The study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale, specifically examining its factor structure, reliability, and measurement invariance among university students in Vietnam and Russia. <br><strong>Methods and materials.</strong> A total of 242 Vietnamese and 216 Russian students completed the scale. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted separately for each group to confirm the factor structure. Cronbach’s alpha assessed reliability, and measurement invariance testing determined whether the scale functioned equivalently across cultures. Latent profile analysis identified loneliness subgroups within each sample. <br><strong>Results.</strong> A two-factor structure (1) emotional loneliness and (2) social loneliness was confirmed in both groups. The scale showed configural (<em>CFI</em> = 0,953), metric (Δ<em>CFI</em> = 0,004), and scalar invariance (Δ<em>CFI</em> = 0,005) across groups, indicating measurement equivalence, though strict invariance was not supported (Δ<em>CFI</em> = 0,012). Latent profile analysis revealed distinct loneliness profiles which is a demonstration of the scale's ability to differentiate groups with different characteristics. Reliability was acceptable (<em>α</em><sub>Vietnam</sub> = 0,78; <em>α</em><sub>Russia</sub> = 0,84). <br><strong>Conclusions. </strong>The adapted scale demonstrated good psychometric properties in Vietnamese and Russian.</p>