Graduate School of Education and Human Development, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 464-8601, Japan.
BMC Psychol. 2019 Apr 5;7(1):20. doi: 10.1186/s40359-019-0285-0.
Loneliness is a major risk factor for mental and physical health worldwide. The Three-Item Loneliness Scale (TIL Scale; Hughes et al., 2004) has been widely applied to measure loneliness in a simplified format, but no validated Japanese version has been developed. This study adapted the TIL Scale into Japanese and tested its reliability and validity.
The original English version of the TIL Scale was translated into Japanese, and the expressions of the Japanese version were confirmed by a back translation procedure. The translated scale was then administered to Japanese respondents recruited from an online research panel (N = 1020) and an online crowdsourcing service (N = 500). To analyze the data containing polytomous responses to the items in the scale, this study used categorical Confirmatory Factor Analysis and the Generalized Partial Credit Model based on the Item Response Theory. To evaluate the psychometric properties of the scale, this study examined factorial validity, reliability, information curves, and the associations of the scale score with demographic variables (age, gender, marital status, and living arrangements), the scores of the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale (R-UCLA), the Big Five scale of personality traits, and the sizes of personal networks.
The translated TIL Scale showed essential unidimensionality and characteristics to differentiate among respondents at different levels of loneliness. The scale score was related positively with the scores of R-UCLA and neuroticism and negatively with the scores of extraversion, conscientiousness, openness, agreeableness, and the sizes of overall and support networks. Those who were unmarried and alone recorded a higher score on the scale than those who were married and living with someone. Age showed a negative correlation with the scale score only in Sample 1, in which the equal allocation procedure was introduced for the age stratum.
The results indicate that the Japanese version of the TIL Scale demonstrates adequate reliability and validity for the assessment of loneliness.
孤独感是全球范围内影响身心健康的主要风险因素。三项目孤独量表（TIL 量表；Hughes 等人，2004）已被广泛用于简化格式下的孤独感测量，但尚未开发出经过验证的日语版本。本研究将 TIL 量表改编为日语，并测试其信度和效度。
将 TIL 量表的原始英文版本翻译成日语，并通过回译程序确认日语版本的表达。然后，对从在线研究小组（N=1020）和在线众包服务（N=500）招募的日本受访者进行了该量表的测试。为了分析量表项目的多项反应数据，本研究使用了基于项目反应理论的分类验证性因子分析和广义部分信用模型。为了评估量表的心理测量学特性，本研究检验了量表的因子有效性、信度、信息曲线，以及量表得分与人口统计学变量（年龄、性别、婚姻状况和居住安排）、修订版 UCLA 孤独量表（R-UCLA）得分、人格特质的大五维度得分和个人网络规模的相关性。
翻译后的 TIL 量表表现出基本的单维性和区分不同孤独水平受访者的特性。量表得分与 R-UCLA 和神经质得分呈正相关，与外向性、尽责性、开放性、宜人性以及总体和支持网络规模得分呈负相关。未婚独居者的量表得分高于已婚且与他人同住者。仅在样本 1 中，年龄与量表得分呈负相关，在该样本中引入了年龄层的等分配程序。
结果表明，TIL 量表的日语版本在评估孤独感方面具有足够的信度和效度。
