ReviewPerspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science2015
Loneliness across phylogeny and a call for comparative studies and animal models.
Review in Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 90 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
90 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- ASSeTS: a systematic review and development of the World Health Organization's classification system for social isolation and loneliness interventions.Population health metrics · 2026Pooled it
- Social Isolation, Loneliness, and Cardiovascular Mortality: The Role of Health Care System Interventions.Current cardiology reports · 2024Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of 90 cohort studies of social isolation, loneliness and mortality.Nature human behaviour · 2023Pooled it
- The Stability and Change of Loneliness Across the Life Span: A Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Studies.Personality and social psychology review : an official journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc · 2020Pooled it
- Loneliness predicts a preference for larger interpersonal distance within intimate space.PloS one · 2018Trial
- Trajectories and Bidirectional Associations between Loneliness and Non-suicidal Self-Injury among Chinese Adolescents.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2026Article
- Contextualizing the adolescent social brain: Links to social health using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Article
- Social Isolation, Loneliness and Subclinical Atherosclerosis.Current atherosclerosis reports · 2026Review
- Exploring the Power of Peer-Related Social Factors in Mediating the Effects of Pain on Loneliness and Stress in Adolescents.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2026Article
- Social interactions and loneliness in daily life: A study of younger adults and cognitively diverse older adults.Developmental psychology · 2026Article
- From Molecules to Meaning: Integrating Neuropeptides, Sociostasis, and Hormesis in the Brain-Heart Axis.Current issues in molecular biology · 2026Review
- Identifying patterns and predictors of social health in adolescence using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study.Developmental psychology · 2026Article
- Resilience through regulation: Individual differences in inhibitory control shape neural and psychological responses to ostracism.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2026Article
- Loneliness exacerbates age differences in the -allostatic-interoceptive system during induced affect.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2026Article
- Amygdala AVPR1A mediates susceptibility to chronic social isolation in female mice.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Loneliness: An Existential and Public Health Issue.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- The Bidirectional Relationships Between Shyness, Loneliness and Depressive Symptoms in Chinese Adolescents.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2025Article
- The roles of loneliness and self-control in the association between social avoidance and nomophobia among college students.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Owners of a conspiratorial heart? Investigating the longitudinal relationship between loneliness and conspiracy beliefs.The British journal of social psychology · 2025Article
- The mediating effects of sleep quality in the relationship between loneliness and depression among middle-aged and older adults.Scientific reports · 2025Article
30 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Loneliness typically refers to the feelings of distress and dysphoria resulting from a discrepancy between a person's desired and achieved levels of social relations, and there is now considerable evidence that loneliness is a risk factor for poor psychological and physical health. Loneliness has traditionally been conceptualized as a uniquely human phenomenon. However, over millions of years of evolution, efficient and manifold neural, hormonal, and molecular mechanisms have evolved for promoting companionship and mutual protection/assistance and for organizing adaptive responses when there is a significant discrepancy between the preferred and realized levels of social connection. We review evidence suggesting that loneliness is not a uniquely human phenomenon, but, instead, as a scientific construct, it represents a generally adaptive predisposition that can be found across phylogeny. Central to this argument is the premise that the brain is the key organ of social connections and processes. Comparative studies and animal models, particularly when integrated with human studies, have much to contribute to the understanding of loneliness and its underlying principles, mechanisms, consequences, and potential treatments.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.