ReviewSocial science & medicine (1982)2023
Risk factors for loneliness: A literature review.
Review in Social science & medicine (1982), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 88 papers, 6 of them syntheses 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
88 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 178 citations in OpenAlex.
- Loneliness among adults at the end of life: A systematic review of prevalence and correlates.Palliative medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Interventions against loneliness and social isolation in older adults- a systematic review.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- Loneliness and Its Associated Factors in Individuals With Intellectual Disability and Borderline Intellectual Functioning: A Systematic Review.Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities : JARID · 2026Pooled it
- Social Isolation and Loneliness in People Living With Chronic Kidney Disease and Kidney Failure: A Mixed Method Systematic Review.Journal of renal care · 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
- Adolescent Loneliness When a Parent Has Cancer: A Qualitative Systematic Review.Psycho-oncology · 2025Pooled it
- Large-Scale Neuroimaging and Genetic Analyses of the Human Thalamus in Loneliness.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2026Article
- What makes a lonely child: environmental, health, and multimodal neuroimaging correlates of prospective loneliness in the ABCD study.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Article
- Early Adoption of Digital Devices and Change in Loneliness Over 10 Years Among Late Middle-Aged and Older Adults: Longitudinal Cohort Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Lifestyle, Sleep, and Psychological Correlates of Social Participation Across Mediterranean and Neighbouring Countries: Findings from the MEDIET4ALL Survey.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Loneliness trajectories surrounding mobility loss: the role of disability duration.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 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
- Real-Life Emotional Support, Social-Media-Based Emotional Support, and Loneliness Among US Adults: A Nationally Representative Study.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- Prevalence of social disconnection in the general adult population - results from DISCONNECT study.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Loneliness around the world: patterns, predictors, and well-being implications.European journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Occupational Therapists as Social Prescribers: Insights from Swedish Primary Care.Scandinavian journal of occupational therapy · 2026Article
- Examining associations of social disconnectedness change patterns with subsequent healthcare utilization and costs among public healthcare users in Central Singapore.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Development of a digitalised complex intervention to promote activity of older people in rural areas: study protocol of a feasibility study.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2026Article
- Adolescent loneliness in the United States: Prevalence, sociodemographic correlates, and psychological health over time.SSM - population health · 2026Article
- Eating Together, Eating Alone: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Associations Between Social Eating Contexts, Mealtime Emotions, Technology Use, and Loneliness in UK University Students.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
28 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
3 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
rationaleIncreasingly, loneliness is being recognised as a serious problem with detrimental effects on health, as well as on social cohesion and community trust. To effectively tackle this complex issue, a clear understanding of the phenomenon and its main drivers is needed. Over years of scientific research on loneliness, many potential risk factors have emerged and been tested empirically.
objectiveThis narrative review of 109 studies provides a concise summary of empirical evidence on the main potential risk factors for loneliness and presents an additional section dedicated to the COVID-19 pandemic.
methodGiven the very large number of existing studies, emphasis is placed on recent meta-analyses and systematic literature reviews as well as longitudinal studies. Similarly, given the large number of possible risk factors for loneliness, which may differ based on the geographical and cultural context, this review focuses on studies from Europe and North America.
resultsThe results show that demographic factors often correlate with loneliness, but in many cases the link becomes negligible when controlling for other factors. Often, physical and mental health problems are found to be associated with loneliness, and so are some psychological factors, such as neuroticism or extroversion. Loneliness also depends on the environment in which one lives, and possibly the broader socio-economic and socio-cultural contexts. Nevertheless, the review shows that ultimately everything comes down to the quantity and quality of social relationships. In particular, marital status, living arrangements and the characteristics of one's personal social network are quite consistently found to be among the strongest predictors of loneliness. These main findings about the risk factors for loneliness remained valid also during the COVID-19 pandemic. POLICY IMPLICATIONS: The findings of this review have implications for policy, as understanding who the most vulnerable groups are is key for designing targeted policy solutions that tackle loneliness.
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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.