Risk factors for loneliness: The high relative importance of age versus other factors

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229087
• Publication Date: 2020-02-11T13:36:30Z
• Authors: Bridget Shovestul; Jiayin Han; Laura Germine; David Dodell-Feder
• Keywords: Adult; Male; Adolescent; Science; Young Adult; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Residence Characteristics; Risk Factors; Surveys and Questionnaires; Humans; 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences; Child; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Internet; Loneliness; Q; 05 social sciences; R; Age Factors; 1. No poverty; Middle Aged; United States; 3. Good health; Socioeconomic Factors; Medicine; Female; Research Article

Loneliness is a potent predictor of negative health outcomes, making it important to identify risk factors for loneliness. Though extant studies have identified characteristics associated with loneliness, less known about the cumulative and relative importance these factors, how their interaction may impact Here, 4,885 individuals ages 10–97 years from US completed three-item UCLA Survey on TestMyBrain.org. Using census data, we calculated population community household income participants' area, proportion in participant's area that shared demographic (i.e., sociodemographic density). We evaluated three classes variables loneliness risk: those related person (e.g., age), place income), X (sociodemographic find highly prevalent best explained by (age) (community income) characteristics. Of variance accounted for, overwhelming majority was age peaking at 19 declining thereafter. The congruence between one's neighborhood had no These data implications public interventions.