Manchester Institute of Education, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
Psychology Department, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4PY, UK.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Nov 16;18(22):12027. doi: 10.3390/ijerph182212027.
Almost all measures of loneliness have been developed without discussing how to best conceptualize and assess the severity of loneliness. In the current study, we adapted the four-item UCLA, so that it continued to measure frequency of loneliness, but also assessed intensity and duration, providing a measure of other aspects of loneliness severity. Using data from participants resident in the UK who completed the BBC Loneliness Experiment (N = 36,767; F = 69.6%) and Latent Class Profile Analyses, we identified four groups of people who scored high on loneliness on at least one of the three severity measures. Duration of loneliness often over months or years seemed to be particularly important in distinguishing groups. Further, group membership was predicted by important demographic and psychological variables. We discuss the findings in terms of implications for research and practice. We highlight the need to explore these profiles longitudinally to investigate how membership predicts later mental and physical health, and well-being.
几乎所有孤独感的衡量标准都是在没有讨论如何最好地概念化和评估孤独感严重程度的情况下制定的。在本研究中，我们对四项 UCLA 进行了改编，使其既能继续衡量孤独感的频率，又能评估强度和持续时间，从而提供了衡量孤独感严重程度其他方面的指标。我们使用了居住在英国、完成了英国广播公司孤独实验的参与者的数据（N=36767；F=69.6%）和潜在类别剖面分析，确定了至少在三个严重程度衡量标准中的一个上孤独感得分较高的四类人群。孤独感持续数月或数年的时长似乎在区分群体方面尤为重要。此外，群体成员身份还可由重要的人口统计学和心理学变量来预测。我们根据这些发现对研究和实践的意义展开了讨论。我们强调需要从纵向角度来探索这些群体，以调查群体成员身份如何预测以后的心理健康和幸福感。
