ReviewInternational journal of environmental research and public health2022
How (Not) to Measure Loneliness: A Review of the Eight Most Commonly Used Scales.
Review in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 57 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
57 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Does Peer Victimization Predict Loneliness? A Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Studies.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2026Pooled it
- Efficacy of Technology-Based Interventions on the Reduction of Loneliness: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Sensor-Based Technologies for the Detection of Unwanted Loneliness in Older Adults: A Systematic Review.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Pooled it
- Impact of loneliness on health in healthy populations: A meta-analysis.British journal of health psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Community and societal influences on loneliness and social isolation among young adults: a systematic review of observational studies.Epidemiologic reviews · 2026Pooled it
- Loneliness among community-dwelling older adults across biological, clinical and psychosocial domains before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- The development and preliminary validation of a multidimensional assessment scale for loneliness in nursing homes.International journal of nursing studies advances · 2026Article
- Associations Between Loneliness Components and Nomophobia Among Allied Medical Sciences Students in Sari: A Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Loneliness in sexual and gender minority youths: Critical implications of a multidimensional approach.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Social Health Among Individuals Living with Mental Illness During the Transition To Permanent Supportive Housing: A Scoping Review.Community mental health journal · 2026Article
- Limited family ties, friendship, and contextual variation in loneliness risk across 25 countries.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2026Article
- The Longitudinal Interplay Between Loneliness and Depressive Symptoms During Late Childhood: Cross-Lagged Panel Network Analyses.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2026Article
- Development and psychometric validation of the Kanazawa University loneliness scale for children and adolescents.Discover mental health · 2026Article
- Loneliness in Primary Care Patients-From Understanding the Risk to Actionable Clinical Priority.Annals of family medicine · 2026Article
- Alone together online: a mixed-methods analysis of loneliness, recognition, and peer response in a public digital community.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Association of loneliness with incident cardiovascular diseases in middle-aged and older Chinese adults.PloS one · 2026Article
- Longitudinal Examination of Loneliness and Smoking in Adolescents and Young Adults: A Multiple Dataset Study.International journal of mental health and addiction · 2026Article
- Article
- Perspective: Improving social connection and inclusion through equitable digital health solutions.NPJ digital medicine · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Loneliness affects well-being and has long-term negative impacts on physical and mental health, educational outcomes, and employability. Because of those current and long-term impacts, loneliness is a significant issue for which we need reliable and appropriate measurement scales. In the current paper, psychometric properties of the eight most commonly used loneliness scales are reviewed both descriptively and meta-analytically. Results suggest that for many of the scales, the psychometric properties are promising. However, for some psychometric features, especially test-retest reliability and measurement invariance, evidence is rather scarce. Most striking, however, is the fact that all of the scales included items that do not measure loneliness. Surprisingly, for many (sub)scales, this was even the case for about half of the items. Because our measures are the foundation of our research work, it is crucial to improve the way loneliness is being measured.
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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.