The DOI matches its Crossref record; 41 of the 41 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Loneliness in Adults: The Netherlands Twin Register Study
Open accessAbstract
Heritability estimates based on two small studies in children indicate that the genetic contribution to individual differences in loneliness is approximately 50%. Heritability estimates of complex traits such as loneliness may change across the lifespan, however, as the frequency, duration, and range of exposure to environmental influences accrues, or as the expression of genetic factors changes. We examined data on loneliness from 8,387 young adult and adult Dutch twins who had participated in longitudinal survey studies. A measure of loneliness was developed based on factor analyses of items of the YASR (The Young Adult Self Report). Variation in loneliness was analyzed with genetic structural equation models. The estimate of genetic contributions to variation in loneliness in adults was 48%, which is similar to the heritability estimates found previously in children. There was no evidence for sex or age differences in genetic architecture. Sex differences in prevalence were significant, but we did not see an association with age or birth cohort. All resemblance between twin relatives was explained by shared genes, without any suggestion of a contribution of shared environmental factors.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“These studies indicate that the heritability of individual differences in perceived isolation is approximately 50%.”
From Social isolation (2011) · cites this paper as [61]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation.
Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037//0033-2909.117.3.497 · Cited by 23,245
Introduction to Quantitative Genetics.
Edwards, A. W. F., & Falconer, D. S. (1982) · Biometrics · doi:10.2307/2529912 · Cited by 21,447
Social Relationships and Health
House, J. S., Landis, K. R., & Umberson, D. (1988) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.3399889 · Cited by 7,073
The Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale: concurrent and discriminant validity evidence
Russell, D., Peplau, L. A., & Cutrona, C. E. (1980) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.39.3.472 · Cited by 5,173
A secure base: parent-child attachment and healthy human development
(1989) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.26-4750 · Cited by 4,885
A Short Scale for Measuring Loneliness in Large Surveys: Results From Two Population-Based Studies
Hughes, M. E., Waite, L. J., Hawkley, L. C., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2004) · Research on Aging · doi:10.1177/0164027504268574 · Cited by 4,781
Self-citationMethodology for Genetic Studies of Twins and Families
Neale, M. C., & Cardon, L. R. (1992) · doi:10.1007/978-94-015-8018-2 · Cited by 4,005
Loneliness: the experience of emotional and social isolation
Weiss, R. S. (1974) · Cited by 2,513
Loneliness: A Source Book of Current Theory, Research and Therapy
Blazer, D. G. (1983) · Journal of Gerontology · doi:10.1093/geronj/38.4.492 · Cited by 2,139
Introduction to Quantitative Genetics.
Edwards, J. H., & Falconer, D. S. (1960) · Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A (General) · doi:10.2307/2342481 · Cited by 1,812
Research works printed but not linked: 9
- T. M. Achenbach, 1990, The Young Adult Self Report
- R. F. Baumeister, 1995, Psychol. Bull., 117, 497, 10.1037/0033-2909.117.3.497 · DOI · Paper page
- E. Berscheid, 1998, The Handbook of Social Psychology. Vol. 2, 193
- D. I. Boomsma, 1999, Twin Res., 2, 115, 10.1375/twin.2.2.115 · DOI
- J. T. Cacioppo, 2000, Psychol. Bull., 126, 829, 10.1037/0033-2909.126.6.829 · DOI · Paper page
- K. G. Joreskog, 1996, PRELIS User’s Manual, Version 2
- Neale M. C., Boker S. M., Xie G. and Maes H. H. (2003). Mx: Statistical Modeling. VCU Box 900126, Richmond VA 23298: Department of Psychiatry. 6th edition
- M. Pinquart, 2003, Advances in psychology research Vol. 19, 111
- R. Plomin, 2001, Behavior Genetics, 4th edition
Cited by
Sorted by citations
On seeing human: A three-factor theory of anthropomorphism
Epley, N., Waytz, A., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2007) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.114.4.864 · Cited by 4,069
Self-citationPerceived social isolation and cognition
Cacioppo, J. T., & Hawkley, L. C. (2009) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2009.06.005 · Cited by 2,144
Self-citationA Meta-Analysis of Interventions to Reduce Loneliness
Masi, C. M., Chen, H.-Y., Hawkley, L. C., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2011) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/1088868310377394 · Cited by 1,995
“Using procedures described by Borenstein et al. (2009), the influence of categorical moderator variables was assessed using subgroup analyses analogous to ANOVAs that partition the total effect size variance into variance within and between groups.”
MethodSelf-citationSocial disconnectedness, perceived isolation, and health among older adults
Cornwell, E. Y., & Waite, L. J. (2009) · Journal of Health and Social Behavior · doi:10.1177/002214650905000103 · Cited by 2,027
Cacioppo, J. T., Hawkley, L. C., & Thisted, R. A. (2010) · Psychology and Aging · doi:10.1037/a0017216 · Cited by 1,757
Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Boomsma, D. I., Willemsen, G., Dolan, C. V., Hawkley, L. C., & Cacioppo, J. T.
- Affiliations
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
- University of Chicago (US)
- Corresponding author
- Boomsma, Dorret I.
- Venue
- Behavior Genetics
- Published
- 2005-11
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 745-752
- ISSN
- 0001-8244 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-3297
- OpenAlex
- W2113803662
- Cited by
- 191
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 3.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- research.vu.nl
- Licence
- other-oa
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Behavior Genetics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (publishedVersion)
- VU Research Portal (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Digital Academic REpository of VU University Amsterdam (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (904-61-193, 904-61-090, 985-10002, 575-25-006)
- National Institute on Aging (P01AG18911, P01AG018911)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Keywords
- loneliness, heritability, genetic architecture, twin studies, shared environment, sex differences, age differences, birth cohort, young adults, adult twins
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Environment, Genetics, Behavioral, Health Surveys, Humans, Loneliness, Longitudinal Studies, Netherlands, Registries
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review