ArticleSSM - population health2023
US trends in social isolation, social engagement, and companionship ⎯ nationally and by age, sex, race/ethnicity, family income, and work hours, 2003-2020.
Article in SSM - population health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 91 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.
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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
91 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Autism, youth suicide, and psychedelics: A review of the 21st century evidence.Journal of the Chinese Medical Association : JCMA · 2024Pooled it
- Loneliness in Focus: Proposing a Resident Curriculum.Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry · 2026Article
- Lifestyle, Sleep, and Psychological Correlates of Social Participation Across Mediterranean and Neighbouring Countries: Findings from the MEDIET4ALL Survey.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Have Australians become more lonely and socially isolated? A longitudinal analysis of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia study.International journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- COVID-19 Impact on Health Behaviors and Survey Engagement in Older African Americans: Longitudinal Cohort Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Observational
- A Prospective Study of the Association Between School Connectedness in Adolescence and Social Connection in Adulthood.The Journal of school health · 2026Article
- Prevalence of social disconnection in the general adult population - results from DISCONNECT study.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Are adverse childhood experiences associated with trajectories of social isolation in adulthood? Evidence from two United States National surveys.The Gerontologist · 2026Article
- More connections, higher polarization: The role of weak ties and status-driven dynamics.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Loneliness and Mental Wellbeing in People With Inherited Macular Disease.Ophthalmic & physiological optics : the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians (Optometrists) · 2026Article
- The Medicalization of Loneliness: Addressing Social Ills through Healthcare.Social problems · 2026Article
- Child and adolescent psychiatry: challenges, solutions, opportunities, and future directions.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2026Article
- Marital Status Is Associated With Treatment Attainment in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma.Journal of surgical oncology · 2026Article
- How Race, Gender, and Cohort Shape Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Americans.Journal of applied gerontology : the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society · 2026Article
- Help-Seeking Patterns Among Socially Isolated Patients in Primary Care.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- Patterns of Social Engagement and Associations with Depression, Loneliness and Stigma in People Living with HIV.AIDS and behavior · 2026Article
- Social connectedness and cognitive outcomes in rural middle- to older-age adults.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Review
- Associations of Social and Physical Isolation With Material Deprivation and Inadequate Use of Preventive Care in the United States.Annals of family medicine · 2026Article
- Article
- Facilitators and barriers to neighborhood social integration.American journal of community psychology · 2026Article
31 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
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Social connectedness is essential for health and longevity, while isolation exacts a heavy toll on individuals and society. We present U.S. social connectedness magnitudes and trends as target phenomena to inform calls for policy-based approaches to promote social health. Using the 2003-2020 American Time Use Survey, this study finds that, nationally, social isolation increased, social engagement with family, friends, and 'others' (roommates, neighbors, acquaintances, coworkers, clients, etc.) decreased, and companionship (shared leisure and recreation) decreased. Joinpoint analysis showed that the pandemic exacerbated upward trends in social isolation and downward trends in non-household family, friends, and 'others' social engagement. However, household family social engagement and companionship showed signs of progressive decline years prior to the pandemic, at a pace
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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.