ArticleScientific reports2021
Lonely in a crowd: investigating the association between overcrowding and loneliness using smartphone technologies.
Article in Scientific reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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
16 citing papers in PubMed.
- Loneliness around the world: patterns, predictors, and well-being implications.European journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Cultural Competence and Loneliness: Unveiling Hidden Connections Among Saudi Nurses.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Loneliness as a Public Health Challenge: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis to Inform Policy and Practice.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2025Review
- Space Prescription: Initiative to Improve Health and Well-being in Tokyo.Journal of atherosclerosis and thrombosis · 2025Review
- The Role of Virtual Reality in Chronic Pain and Loneliness: Narrative Review.Journal of medical extended reality · 2025Review
- Beyond clinical risk: tackling loneliness through a population health lens.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Urbanization, loneliness and mental health model - A cross-sectional network analysis with a representative sample.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Does urban greenness reduce loneliness and social isolation among Canadians? A cross-sectional study of middle-aged and older adults of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA).Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique · 2024Article
- Emotional loneliness, perceived stress, and academic burnout of medical students after the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Contributions of loneliness to cognitive impairment and dementia in older adults are independent of other risk factors and Alzheimer's pathology: a narrative review.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2024Review
- Recognizing Zooeyia to Promote Companion Animal Welfare in Urban Bangladesh.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- Mortality was predicted by depression and functional dependence in a cohort of elderly adults of Italian descent from southern Brazil.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Urbanicity-Perspectives from Neuroscience and Public Health: A Scoping Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Expanding the role of the future zoo: Wellbeing should become the fifth aim for modern zoos.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Review
- The mental health benefits of visiting canals and rivers: An ecological momentary assessment study.PloS one · 2022Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Loneliness is a major public health concern with links to social and environmental factors. Previous studies have typically investigated loneliness as a stable emotional state using retrospective cross-sectional designs. Yet people experience different levels of loneliness throughout the day depending on their surrounding environment. In the present study, we investigated the associations between loneliness and social and environmental factors (i.e. overcrowding, population density, social inclusivity and contact with nature) in real-time. Ecological momentary assessment data was collected from participants using the Urban Mind smartphone application. Data from 756 participants who completed 16,602 assessments between April 2018 and March 2020 were used in order to investigate associations between momentary feeling of loneliness, the social environment (i.e. overcrowding, social inclusivity, population density) and the built environment (i.e. contact with nature) using multilevel modelling. Increased overcrowding and population density were associated with higher levels of loneliness; in contrast, social inclusivity and contact with nature were associated with lower levels of loneliness. These associations remained significant after adjusting for age, gender, ethnicity, education and occupation. The positive association between social inclusivity and lower levels of loneliness was more pronounced when participants were in contact with nature, indicating an interaction between the social and built environment on loneliness. The feeling of loneliness changes in relation to both social and environmental factors. Our findings have potential implications for public health strategies and interventions aimed at reducing the burden of loneliness on society. Specific measures, which would increase social inclusion and contact with nature while reducing overcrowding, should be implemented, especially in densely populated cities.
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.