Loneliness

The loneliness scale is developed by De Jong Gierveld & Kamphuis (1985).

Observations
The items
Frequency of the item scores
Psychometric properties
Scale score
Frequency of the scale score at the various observations
Distribution of Loneliness Scale scores
Developments in loneliness
Single, direct questions
Correlations with Depressive symptoms
References

Observations

	Time since 1st observation	Valid N
Main Study, wave a (LSN)	.00	4045
Main Study, wave b (LASA)	.88	3040
Main Study, wave c (LASA)	3.93	2278
Main Study, wave d (LASA)	6.92	1833
Main Study, wave e (LASA)
Network Study (as anchor), wave g	.42	533
Network Study (as anchor), wave i	2.39	366
Network Study (as network member), wave g	.41	65
Network Study (as network member), wave i	2.37	41
Widowhood Study, wave k	2.49	140
Widowhood Study, wave l	2.99	126
Widowhood Study, wave m	3.51	119
Widowhood Study, wave n	4.05	114
Widowhood Study, wave o	4.58	112

The items

	We shall continue with a set of statements. Individuals who had previously shared their experiences with us made these statements. Please indicate for each of the 11 statements, the extent to which they apply to your situation, the way you feel now. Please, circle the appropriate answer.	Er volgen nu enkele uitspraken. Deze uitspraken zijn opgetekend uit de mond van een groot aantal mensen met wie eerder uitgebreid over hun situatie is gesproken. Wilt u van elk van de volgende uitspraken aangeven in hoeverre die op u, zoals u de laatste tijd bent, van toepassing is? Omcirkel het antwoord dat op u van toepassing is.
1	There is always someone I can talk to about my day-to-day problems	Er is altijd wel iemand in mijn omgeving bij wie ik met mijn dagelijkse probleempjes terecht kan
2	I miss having a really close friend	Ik mis een echt goede vriend of vriendin
3	I experience a general sense of emptiness	Ik ervaar een leegte om me heen
4	There are plenty of people I can lean on when I have problems	Er zijn genoeg mensen op wie ik in geval van narigheid kan terugvallen
5	I miss the pleasure of the company of others	Ik mis gezelligheid om me heen
6	I find my circle of friends and acquaintances too limited	Ik vind mijn kring van kennissen te beperkt
7	There are many people I can trust completely	Ik heb veel mensen op wie ik volledig kan vertrouwen
8	There are enough people I feel close to	Er zijn voldoende mensen met wie ik me nauw verbonden voel
9	I miss having people around	Ik mis mensen om me heen
10	I often feel rejected	Vaak voel ik me in de steek gelaten
11	I can call on my friends whenever I need them	Wanneer ik daar behoefte aan heb kan ik altijd bij mijn vrienden terecht

Possible answers are "yes", "more or less", "no" ("ja", "min-of-meer", "nee").

Frequency of the item scores
Note: At wave b, for 173 respondents the item scores were collected by means of a paper and pencil questionnaire (see variable blo_mode in LASAb073). For the other 2879 respondents at wave b and all respondents at the other waves, the scores were collected by means of a computerized questionnaire.
The item scores are stored in the files LSNa073, LASAb073, LASAc073, LASAd073.

alo1 blo1 clo1 dlo1 There is always someone I can talk to about my day-to-day problems

Values and meaning	alo1	blo1	clo1	dlo1
-5 short version questionnaire	345
-4 refusal by respondent or skip by interviewer	13	10	4	5
-3 terminated interview	73	45	15	18
-1 no answer	12	6	8	6
1 no	505	281	206	163
2 more-or-less	325	209	209	189
3 yes	3221	2556	1860	1493
N =	4494	3107	2302	1874

alo2 blo2 clo2 dlo2 I miss having a really close friend

Values and meaning	alo2	blo2	clo2	dlo2
-5 short version questionnaire	345
-4 refusal by respondent or skip by interviewer	13	10	4	5
-3 terminated interview	73	45	15	18
-1 no answer	6	7	3	4
1 no	3244	2470	1792	1411
2 more-or-less	241	143	180	156
3 yes	572	432	308	280
N =	4494	3107	2302	1874

alo3 blo3 clo3 dlo3 I experience a general sense of emptiness

Values and meaning	alo3	blo3	clo3	dlo3
-5 short version questionnaire	345
-4 refusal by respondent or skip by interviewer	13	10	4	5
-3 terminated interview	73	45	15	18
-1 no answer	4	9	2	4
1 no	3031	2389	1762	1391
2 more-or-less	417	231	235	240
3 yes	611	423	284	216
N =	4494	3107	2302	1874

alo4 blo4 clo4 dlo4 There are plenty of people I can lean on when I have problems

	alo4	blo4	clo4	dlo4
-5 short version questionnaire	345
-4 refusal by respondent or skip by interviewer	13	10	4	5
-3 terminated interview	73	45	15	18
-1 no answer	18	8	4	12
1 no	385	248	142	120
2 more-or-less	341	233	233	190
3 yes	3319	2563	1904	1529
N =	4494	3107	2302	1874

alo5 blo5 clo5 dlo5 I miss the pleasure of the company of others

Values and meaning	alo5	blo5	clo5	dlo5
-5 short version questionnaire	345
-4 refusal by respondent or skip by interviewer	13	10	4	5
-3 terminated interview	73	45	15	18
-1 no answer	3	4	2	5
1 no	3154	2403	1760	1415
2 more-or-less	373	270	242	231
3 yes	533	375	279	200
N =	4494	3107	2302	1874

alo6 blo6 clo6 dlo6 I find my circle of friends and acquaintances too limited

Values and meaning	alo6	blo6	clo6	dlo6
-5 short version questionnaire	345
-4 refusal by respondent or skip by interviewer	13	10	4	5
-3 terminated interview	73	45	15	18
-1 no answer	9	6	3	7
1 no	3162	2384	1745	1414
2 more-or-less	324	213	238	207
3 yes	568	449	297	223
N =	4494	3107	2302	1874

alo7 blo7 clo7 dlo7 There are many people I can trust completely

Values and meaning	alo7	blo7	clo7	dlo7
-5 short version questionnaire	345
-4 refusal by respondent or skip by interviewer	13	10	4	5
-3 terminated interview	73	45	15	18
-1 no answer	18	9	4	14
1 no	512	373	275	205
2 more-or-less	633	457	414	327
3 yes	2900	2213	1590	1305
N =	4494	3107	2302	1874

alo8 blo8 clo8 dlo8 There are enough people I feel close to

Values and meaning	alo8	blo8	clo8	dlo8
-5 short version questionnaire	345
-4 refusal by respondent or skip by interviewer	13	10	4	5
-3 terminated interview	73	45	15	18
-1 no answer	12	10	5	14
1 no	437	264	194	142
2 more-or-less	487	267	275	234
3 yes	3127	2511	1809	1461
N =	4494	3107	2302	1874

alo9 blo9 clo9 dlo9 I miss having people around

Values and meaning	alo9	blo9	clo9	dlo9
-5 short version questionnaire	345
-4 refusal by respondent or skip by interviewer	13	10	4	5
-3 terminated interview	73	45	15	18
-1 no answer	7	2	3	5
1 no	3158	2380	1742	1391
2 more-or-less	370	260	262	244
3 yes	528	410	276	211
N =	4494	3107	2302	1874

alo10 blo10 clo10 dlo10 I often feel rejected

Values and meaning	alo10	blo10	clo10	dlo10
-5 short version questionnaire	345
-4 refusal by respondent or skip by interviewer	13	10	4	5
-3 terminated interview	73	45	15	18
-1 no answer	9	7	1	5
1 no	3553	2688	2040	1640
2 more-or-less	235	170	128	131
3 yes	266	187	114	75
N =	4494	3107	2302	1874

alo11 blo11 clo11 dlo11 I can call on my friends whenever I need them

Values and meaning	alo11	blo11	clo11	dlo11
-5 short version questionnaire	345
-4 refusal by respondent or skip by interviewer	13	10	4	5
-3 terminated interview	73	45	15	18
-1 no answer	20	9	5	17
1 no	484	326	195	159
2 more-or-less	370	200	226	204
3 yes	3189	2517	1857	1471
N =	4494	3107	2302	1874

Psychometric properties

	Loevingers H	Reliability rho
Wave a	.33	.81
Wave b	.34	.83
Wave c	.34	.83
Wave d	.34	.83

Scale score
De score is computed according to the manual of the scale (De Jong Gierveld & Van Tilburg, 1999).
Computation of the scale score from the item scores (example for wave a):
count alo = alo1 alo4 alo7 alo8 alo11 (1,2) alo2 alo3 alo5 alo6 alo9 alo10 (2,3).
count mis = alo1 to alo11 (lo thru -1).
if (mis>1) alo = -1.
missing values alo (-1).

Frequency of the scale score at the various observations
The scale scores are stored in the files LSNa273, LASAb273, LASAc273, LASAd273.

alo blo clo dlo Loneliness Scale score

Values and meaning	alo	blo	clo	dlo
-5 short version questionnaire	345
-4 refusal by respondent or skip by interviewer	13	10	4	5
-3 terminated interview	73	45	15	18
-2 more than one missing item score	18	12	5	18
0 no loneliness	1367	1140	779	640
1	712	551	401	300
2	485	393	294	236
3	393	243	223	163
4	307	205	163	121
5	234	149	125	116
6	175	114	89	82
7	123	80	69	54
8	76	53	45	48
9	79	53	35	33
10	50	38	31	27
11 severe loneliness	44	21	24	13
N =	4494	3107	2302	1874

Distribution of Loneliness Scale scores
(1992; wave a; N = 4045; indepently living respondents only; cases weighted in such a way that the sample meets the national distribition according to sex, age and marital status)

Mean = 2.12; SD = 2.59; Skewness = 1.43; Kurtosis = 1.54

Developments in loneliness
(based on respondents with four observations; N = 1722)

Single, direct questions
In addition to the items, at wave a (LSN, 1992) two single, direct questions on loneliness were asked.

alosom (LSNa073)
I sometimes feel lonely.
Ik voel me soms wel eens eenzaam.

Values and meaning	alosom
-5 short version	345
-4 refusal/skip by I	13
-3 terminated interview	73
-1 no answer	6
1 no	2765
2 more-or-less	425
3 yes	867
N =	4494

alorat (LSNa073)
If we divide people in: the not lonely, the moderately lonely, the severely lonely, and the extremely lonely, what would you consider yourself to be?
Als we de mensen zouden indelen in niet eenzaam, matig eenzaam, sterk eenzaam en zeer sterk eenzaam, waar zoudt u zich dan nu toe rekenen?
1 niet eenzaam, 2 matig eenzaam, 3 sterk eenzaam, 4 zeer sterk eenzaam
 

Values and meaning	alorat
-5 short version	345
-4 refusal/skip by I	13
-3 terminated interview	73
-1 no answer	13
1 not lonely	2911
2 moderate lonely	1006
3 severe lonely	99
4 extreme lonely	34
N =	4494

Correlations with Depressive symptoms
The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) includes an item (item number 14; e.g. variable bcesd14 in LASAb025) on loneliness: "During the past week I felt lonely" ("De afgelopen week voelde ik me eenzaam"), with answering possibilities (1) "rarely or never", (2) "sometimes", (3) "occasionally" and (4) "mostly or always". The Pearson correlations of the Loneliness Scale and the CES-D item 14 and scale scores are:

	CES-D Item 14			CES-D scale
Wave	N	r		N	r
b	3035	.51		3015	.48
c	2202	.50		2198	.45
d	1829	.54		1825	.51

Crosstabulation of the dichotomized scales (loneliness: 0-2= not lonely, 3-11= lonely; CES-D: 0-15= no depressive symptoms, 16-60= depressive symptoms) provides the following results:

		Wave B	Wave C	Wave D
		N=3015	N=2198	N=1825
		%	%	%
Not lonely	No depressive symptoms	64	60	59
Not lonely	Depressive symptoms	4	5	5
Lonely	No depressive symptoms	21	25	24
Lonely	Depressive symptoms	10	10	12

References
de Jong Gierveld, J., & Kamphuis, F.H. (1985). The development of a Rasch-type loneliness-scale. Applied Psychological Measurement, 9, 289-299.
de Jong Gierveld, J., & van Tilburg, T.G. (1999). Manual of the Loneliness Scale. Dept. of Social Research Methodology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. ISBN 90-9012523-X. http://home.fsw.vu.nl/~tilburg/manual_loneliness_scale_1999.html

More references on research in which the Loneliness Scale has been applied

Updated 08-11-2001
© Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Design by Theo van Tilburg