ArticleThe Gerontologist2021
Social, Emotional, and Existential Loneliness: A Test of the Multidimensional Concept.
Article in The Gerontologist, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 68 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
68 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 171 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- The development and preliminary validation of a multidimensional assessment scale for loneliness in nursing homes.International journal of nursing studies advances · 2026Article
- "I Am Not Lonely; I Am Just No Longer Needed": Unnamed Loneliness, Masculinities, Intimacy, and Mental Health Among Older Men in Lisbon, Portugal.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2026Article
- The Joy and the Pain of Being Alone: Managing the Solitude-Loneliness (SOLO) Paradox in People High on the Autism Spectrum.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2026Review
- Assessing loneliness in later life: validation of the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale for Portuguese older adults.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Loneliness and Psychosocial Well-Being in Nursing Homes: A Cross-Sectional Study of Older Adults.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Loneliness in Primary Care Patients-From Understanding the Risk to Actionable Clinical Priority.Annals of family medicine · 2026Article
- Purpose and Meaning in Life in Older Age: A Correlational Meta-Analysis.Research square · 2026Article
- Psychometric validation, factor structure, and measurement invariance of the Arabic brief existential loneliness scale.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Article
- Nurse-led pathways for loneliness and social isolation in older adults: a narrative review of assessment, relational mechanisms, and implementation.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- Alone together online: a mixed-methods analysis of loneliness, recognition, and peer response in a public digital community.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Both family and peer relationships matter in late adolescence: a network analysis of loneliness and social connection in a UK cohort.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Development of the social frailty scale for older adults under pandemic-related social restrictions.Frontiers in aging · 2026Article
- From loneliness to connection: the formation mechanism of loneliness, job search stress, and organizational belonging among students approaching graduation in a context of employment contraction.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- How loneliness mediates the association between migration status and health trajectories: Longitudinal evidence from Germany.Journal of migration and health · 2026Article
- Beyond the Physical Demands: Loneliness and Social Isolation Among Female Spousal Caregivers of Persons with Alzheimer's Disease.Psychology research and behavior management · 2026Article
- Multidimensional Loneliness Among University Students: A Latent Profile Approach.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Analysing comfort with primary care discussions and openness to social prescribing as mediators of the associations between loneliness and wellbeing among Canadians aged 55 and older.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- The relationship between retirement, social isolation and loneliness: A longitudinal analysis using the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.BMC public health · 2025Article
8 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
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
objectivesSince the 1980s, most researchers have agreed on the concept of social and emotional loneliness as an unacceptable and negatively experienced discrepancy between realized and desired interpersonal relationships. For other researchers, existential loneliness stems from the realization that a human being is fundamentally alone, with the accompanying emptiness, sadness, and longing. This article examines whether instruments to measure these conceptualizations indicate a multidimensional concept. RESEARCH DESIGN AND
methodsThe 2019 observation of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (N = 1,316; aged 61-101 years; 52% women) included five direct questions about loneliness, the 11-item de Jong Gierveld social and emotional loneliness scale, and 14 items from the translated Existential Loneliness Questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted in Mplus.
resultsFive factors were observed: direct questions, social and emotional loneliness, and loneliness in relationships and meaninglessness in life. The intercorrelations among all five factors were positive. Emotional loneliness correlated most strongly with direct questions. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Loneliness is multifaceted and means that one is not embedded in a personal network, misses closeness and intimacy, and lacks meaning in life. The emotional loneliness items most closely represent what people mean when they report loneliness.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.