ArticleAmerican journal of health promotion : AJHP2019
Loneliness in the United States: A 2018 National Panel Survey of Demographic, Structural, Cognitive, and Behavioral Characteristics.
Article in American journal of health promotion : AJHP, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 63 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
63 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 164 citations in OpenAlex.
- Loneliness without an epidemic: gendered pathways, health consequences, and intervention gaps among men in the United States.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Does unemployment lead to greater levels of loneliness? A systematic review.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2021Pooled it
- Mindfulness-Based College: A Stage 1 Randomized Controlled Trial for University Student Well-Being.Psychosomatic medicineTrial
- Social Isolation in Adults Who Stutter: A Mixed-Methods Investigation of Risk and Correlates.American journal of speech-language pathology · 2026Article
- Coronary Artery Disease and Loneliness: A Cross-Sectional Analysis using the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale.The International journal of angiology : official publication of the International College of Angiology, Inc · 2026Article
- Behaviour patterns on social media and their associations with cognitive, social and emotional skills in university students.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Loneliness among older adults with multiple chronic conditions: Exploring disparities for Hispanic adults in the 2023 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.Public health · 2026Observational
- Loneliness Subtypes and Their Association With Prevalent and Incident Dementia.Journal of applied gerontology : the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society · 2026Article
- Health vulnerability and loneliness among adolescent and young adult populations: a comparison of generations based on a nationwide survey in Japan.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Loneliness in the college student population: Prevalence and associations with substance use outcomes.Journal of American college health : J of ACH · 2025Article
- In pain and lonely? A longitudinal study examining the associations between menstrual pain, physical functioning and loneliness.British journal of health psychology · 2025Article
- Daily patterns of loneliness and binge eating and food addiction using ecological momentary assessment.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2025Article
- The Psychology of Social Isolation and Loneliness in Later Life.Clinics in geriatric medicine · 2025Review
- Artificial intelligence chatbots as a source of virtual social support: Implications for loneliness and anxiety management.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2025Article
- Personality traits and loneliness: An ecological momentary assessment study with self and partner ratings.Journal of research in personality · 2025Article
- Stress and Obesity Signaling Converge on CREB Phosphorylation to Promote Pancreatic Cancer.Molecular cancer research : MCR · 2025Article
- Social disconnectedness and depressive symptoms across age groups: findings from a non-probability sample of employed U.S. adults.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Addressing loneliness in emerging adults in primary care: a pilot feasibility study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Improving prevalence estimates of mental health and well-being indicators among sexual minority men: a propensity-weighting approach.American journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
- Ten Myths About the Effect of Social Media Use on Well-Being.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Review
3 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeTo inform health behavior intervention design, we sought to quantify loneliness and its correlates, including social media use, among adults in the United States.
designCross-sectional research panel questionnaire.
settingResponses were gathered from individuals in all 50 states surveyed via Internet from February 2018 to March 2018.
participantsA total of 20 096 US panel respondents aged 18+. MEASURES: The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale (theoretical score range = 20-80) was administered along with demographic, structural, cognitive, and behavioral items. ANALYSIS: After calibrating the sample to population norms, we conducted multivariable linear regression analysis.
resultsThe overall mean survey-weighted loneliness score was 44.03 (standard error = 0.09). Social support (standardized β [sβ] = -0.19) and meaningful daily interactions (sβ = -0.14) had the strongest associations with lower loneliness, along with reporting good relationships, family life, physical and mental health, friendships, greater age, being in a couple, and balancing one's daily time. Social anxiety was most strongly associated with greater loneliness (sβ = +0.20), followed by self-reported social media overuse (sβ = +0.05) and daily use of text-based social media (sβ = +0.03).
conclusionOur findings confirm that loneliness decreases with age, and that being in a relationship as well as everyday behavioral factors in people's control are most strongly related to loneliness. Population health promotion efforts to reduce loneliness should focus on improving social support, decreasing social anxiety, and promoting healthy daily behaviors.
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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.