ArticleInternational psychogeriatrics2019
High prevalence and adverse health effects of loneliness in community-dwelling adults across the lifespan: role of wisdom as a protective factor.
Article in International psychogeriatrics, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 142 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
142 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of mechanistic loneliness interventions for older adults.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2025Pooled it
- The effects of psychosocial and behavioral interventions on depressive and anxiety symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2023Pooled it
- Neurobiology of loneliness: a systematic review.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2021Pooled it
- Outcomes of Randomized Clinical Trials of Interventions to Enhance Social, Emotional, and Spiritual Components of Wisdom: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.JAMA psychiatry · 2020Pooled it
- Lonelier people feel less empathic despite intact neural empathy responses after meditation training.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2026Trial
- A pilot randomized mobile health mindfulness intervention for older adult caregivers of family members with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.Aging & mental health · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Association of everyday discrimination with health outcomes among Asian and non-Asian US older adults before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in public health · 2022Trial
- Engaging older adults as advocates for age-friendly, walkable communities: The Senior Change Makers Pilot Study.Translational behavioral medicine · 2021Trial
- A Survey to Assess Loneliness and Predictive Factors Among Students at a US Medical School.Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry · 2026Article
- Social Isolation Causes Behavioural Abnormalities and Reduces Synaptic Proteins in the Brains ofBiology · 2026Article
- Is my loneliness killing me? Effects of loneliness and social isolation on transitions between cognitive status categories and death.Journal of personality and social psychology · 2026Article
- Loneliness in Schizophrenia: The Mediating Roles of Asocial Beliefs and Mattering.The International journal of social psychiatry · 2026Article
- Lonely individuals have a more negative perception of their bodies: The mediating role of self-cognition and social perception brain network connectivity.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2026Article
- A phenomenological study of fatigue experience in community-dwelling older adults.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Online authentic self-presentation, relatedness need satisfaction, and depression among university students: the moderating role of perceived value of team sports participation in a survey of universities in Shanghai.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Translation, content validity, and preliminary psychometric validation of theFrontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Loneliness in Older Adults Receiving Hemodialysis and Associated Factors: A Cross-Sectional Study.The journal of nursing research : JNR · 2025Article
- The mediating role of loneliness in the relationship between pet ownership and human well-being.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The intersection of structural social factors, loneliness, and social activity in individuals with psychotic disorders.Schizophrenia research · 2025Article
82 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesThis study of loneliness across adult lifespan examined its associations with sociodemographics, mental health (positive and negative psychological states and traits), subjective cognitive complaints, and physical functioning.
designAnalysis of cross-sectional data.
participants340 community-dwelling adults in San Diego, California, mean age 62 (SD = 18) years, range 27-101 years, who participated in three community-based studies. MEASUREMENTS: Loneliness measures included UCLA Loneliness Scale Version 3 (UCLA-3), 4-item Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Social Isolation Scale, and a single-item measure from the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CESD) scale. Other measures included the San Diego Wisdom Scale (SD-WISE) and Medical Outcomes Survey- Short form 36.
resultsSeventy-six percent of subjects had moderate-high levels of loneliness on UCLA-3, using standardized cut-points. Loneliness was correlated with worse mental health and inversely with positive psychological states/traits. Even moderate severity of loneliness was associated with worse mental and physical functioning. Loneliness severity and age had a complex relationship, with increased loneliness in the late-20s, mid-50s, and late-80s. There were no sex differences in loneliness prevalence, severity, and age relationships. The best-fit multiple regression model accounted for 45% of the variance in UCLA-3 scores, and three factors emerged with small-medium effect sizes: wisdom, living alone and mental well-being.
conclusionsThe alarmingly high prevalence of loneliness and its association with worse health-related measures underscore major challenges for society. The non-linear age-loneliness severity relationship deserves further study. The strong negative association of wisdom with loneliness highlights the potentially critical role of wisdom as a target for psychosocial/behavioral interventions to reduce loneliness. Building a wiser society may help us develop a more connected, less lonely, and happier society.
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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.