Why do some people actively seek time alone while others prefer constant social contact? We examined this question using a large-scale behavioral dataset from 203 older adults in Singapore, measuring 104 different aspects of their lives—from daily activity patterns to personality traits to health status. Drawing inspiration from dual-process theory of cognition, we developed a two-stage analytical approach that mirrors how the human mind processes information: first making quick, intuitive judgments, then refining them through in-depth analysis.

Our key findings:

(1) We predicted individual differences in solitude preference, explaining 25% of the variation—substantially better than traditional methods.

(2) The strongest predictors were actual behavioral patterns (hours spent alone, solitary activities) rather than personality traits like introversion.

(3) Surprisingly, extraversion ranked only 15th among predictors, suggesting that preference for solitude reflects more than just being introverted or extraverted.

(4) The dual-process approach handled complex, mixed types of data (combining numerical measurements with categorical information like gender and education) without requiring researcher assumptions that can bias results. These findings advance our understanding of solitude as a meaningful individual difference with practical implications for well-being in later life.

Tze Houng Lee is Adjunct Faculty of SUSS. He read Mathematics at University of Adelaide in 2012. He has been serving as editorial review member in Financial Analyst Journal (CFA Journal).