The article is devoted to a comparative analysis of the level and structural characteristics of loneliness and autonomy in adults in Russia and Bulgaria. The study involved 224 adults from Russia and Bulgaria aged 30-45 years. Methods: differential questionnaire of feelings of loneliness, scale of social and emotional loneliness, scale "autonomy" from the questionnaire "sociotropy - independence". The results showed that the severity of the general experience of loneliness in the Russian and Bulgarian parts of the sample did not differ, while the partial and qualitative characteristics were subject to cross-cultural differences. Multiple regression analysis showed that the mechanisms of the relationship between autonomy and loneliness are also different and show opposite patterns.