Three-item loneliness scale: psychometric properties and normative data of the Spanish version
Open accessAbstract
Loneliness is a common social phenomenon across countries with negative effects in health. Thus, the measurement of loneliness is of paramount importance. The Three-Item Loneliness Scale (TILS) was designed to be used in large-population surveys as a quick measure of loneliness. The aim of this study is to provide a Spanish validation of the TILS. A representative sample of the Spanish population (N = 1951) was used. We analysed the psychometric properties, factor structure, and distribution demographics characteristics of the Spanish TILS. Analyses showed differences regarding age, gender, educational level, employment status, household composition and annual gross income in line with previous literature. The confirmatory factor analysis revealed a unifactorial structure, with significant moderate correlations between the TILS and depression, anxiety, paranoia and well-being, and mild significant correlations with belongingness and mistrust. The internal consistency of the Spanish TILS was good (α = 0.82). Our study indicates that the TILS is a valid and reliable measure of loneliness in the Spanish population. Loneliness is a modern epidemic and a precursor of mental and health problems that reduced the quality of life. Therefore, it is important to have reliable measures of this phenomenon.
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The validated Spanish version of the TILS has shown adequate sensitivity.
“The validated Spanish version has shown adequate sensitivity and was used in this study [31].”
From Gender Differences in Psychological Stress Factors of Physical Therapy Degree Students in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study (2022) · cites this paper as [31]
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“The Spanish version of the Three-Item Loneliness Scale (Trucharte et al., 2021) was used.”
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“Loneliness will be assessed using the Three-Item Lone-liness Scale (TIL-3) in its Spanish version [48, 49].”
MethodLoneliness among family medicine providers and its impact on clinical and teaching practice
Müller, F., Charara, A. K., Holman, H. T., & Achtyes, E. D. (2025) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-025-00688-x · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Fowler, K., & Wareham‐Fowler, S. (2025) · Journal of College Student Mental Health · doi:10.1080/28367138.2025.2453170 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“Based on a recent assessment of the three-item UCLA Loneliness Scale in a large, representative sample from the Spanish population, a good Cronbach’s alpha of 0.82 was observed, with the instrument being deemed a valid and reliable measure of loneliness (Trucharte et al., 2023).”
InfluentialPreserved learning of implicit regularities with predictive social cues in older adults
Salera, C., Yankouskaya, A., Gazzaneo, M. D., Bonavita, A., Pazzaglia, M., Guariglia, C., & Pecchinenda, A. (2024) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1470649 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Fernández-Salido, M., Alhambra-Borrás, T., & Garcés-Ferrer, J. (2024) · Healthcare · doi:10.3390/healthcare12171754 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Mhaka-Mutepfa, M., Biswas, M. J., Mfolwe, L. M., Mathoothe, K. D., & Hasan, M. (2024) · SAGE Open · doi:10.1177/21582440241251540 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“The TILS is reliable with an alpha of .75 (Garg et al., 2023) and .82 (Trucharte et al., 2021).”
Health Needs Assessment in Home-Living Older Adults: Protocol for a Pre-Post Study
Kvalsvik, F., Larsen, B. H., Eilertsen, G., Falkenberg, H. K., Dalen, I., Haaland, S. J., & Storm, M. (2023) · JMIR Research Protocols · doi:10.2196/55192 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“In terms of reliability, this scale has been found to have good internal consistency, and test-retest reliability has shown that the scale produces consistent results over time [56,57].”
Larsen, B. H., Dyrstad, D. N., Falkenberg, H. K., Dieckmann, P., & Storm, M. (2025) · Advances in Simulation · doi:10.1186/s41077-025-00388-6 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Gizdić, A., & Kopilaš, V. (2025) · BMC Psychology · doi:10.1186/s40359-025-02649-5 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“In comparison to other loneliness measures, the Three-Item UCLA Loneliness Scale offers a brief, reliable, and easy-to-administer screening tool Hughes et al. [36]; Igarashi [39]; Trucha-rte et al. [55], particularly in healthcare settings Sirois et al. [56].”
Psychometric analysis of the three item loneliness scale in the Czech Republic
Meier, Z., Novak, L., Helvich, J., Licka, P., & Tavel, P. (2025) · BMC Psychology · doi:10.1186/s40359-024-02204-8 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Social Determinant of Health Framework to Examine the Impact of COVID-19 on Latino Health
Acevedo, S., Malarkey, S., Baquerizo, H. X., Lefebre, A., Sackey, J., & Valera, P. (2023) · Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities · doi:10.1007/s40615-023-01691-6 · Cited by 2
“The UCLA-3 Item Loneliness Scale has a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.82 [27].”
InfluentialVirtual Dating and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Investigating Motives, Predictors, and Outcomes
Youngvorst, L., & Pham, T. N. (2023) · Human Communication & Technology · doi:10.17161/hct.v3i1.16722 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“The scale has previously demonstrated sufficient consistency and validity (Czerwiński & Atroszko, 2021; Igarashi, 2019; Trucharte et al., 2021), and adequate reliability was achieved in this study (α = 0.87).”
BackgroundInfluentialMartínez-Ochoa, M. E., Martínez, P. M., Amo-Saus, E., & García, I. P. (2026) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-026-26742-5 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“These values are lower than those typically reported in the literature α ≈ 0.72 in population-based studies and α ≈ 0.80–0.82 in Spanish validations [21], which is likely due to the reduced number of items and the asymmetry in responses (a predominance of the “hardly ever” category), both of which…”
InfluentialLimited family ties, friendship, and contextual variation in loneliness risk across 25 countries
Mair, C. A. (2026) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2026.119233 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Zarco-Alpuente, A., Fernández, V., Rosič, J., Janicke-Bowles, S., Escrivá-Martínez, T., & Samper-García, P. (2026) · Psicothema · doi:10.70478/psicothema.2026.38.03 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“The Three-Item Loneliness Scale (TILS; Trucharte et al., 2023) was used on a 3-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Hardly ever) to 3 (Often) (e.g. “How often do you feel that you lack company?”).”
Zhou, X., Amran, M., Surat, S., & Yin, H. (2025) · Adolescents · doi:10.3390/adolescents5040051 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“Loneliness is a subjective, negative emotional state arising from perceived dissatisfaction with the quantity or quality of one’s social relationships, and it does not necessarily correspond to the objective number of relationships or their measured quality [1,2].”
Meldgaard, M., Hawkins, M., Osborne, R., & Maindal, H. (2025) · Public Health · doi:10.1016/j.puhe.2025.105936 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Health and Well-Being of Older People in the City of Valencia: A Comprehensive Study
Pérez-Saiz, L., Ferri-Sanz, M., Canas, M., Fernández, M., Ferrando, M., & Dix, R. (2024) · Healthcare · doi:10.3390/healthcare12242526 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Study Protocol for a Cross-Sectional Survey on the Long-Term Impact of COVID-19 on Latino Health
Baquerizo, H. X., Acevedo, S., Malarkey, S., Lewis, K., & Valera, P. (2024) · Journal of Latinos & Education · doi:10.1080/15348431.2024.2381047 · Cited by 1
“The UCLA-3 Item Loneliness Scale has a Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.82 (Trucharte et al., 2021).”
InfluentialLlamas-Salguero, F., Hidalgo-Fuentes, S., Martínez-Álvarez, I., González-Pérez, E., & Pineda-Zelaya, I. S. (2026) · Aloma · doi:10.51698/aloma.2026.44.1.44-54
Franco-García, J. M., Pereira-Payo, D., Denche-Zamorano, Á., & Salas-Gómez, D. (2026) · Journal of public health · doi:10.1007/s10389-026-02773-5
Classifying pain severity in middle-aged and older Europeans with back pain: a visual decision tree
Salas-Gómez, D., Franco-García, J. M., Pereira-Payo, D., & Denche-Zamorano, Á. (2025) · Journal of public health · doi:10.1007/s10389-025-02652-5
Trucharte, A., Peinado, V., Valiente, C., Contreras, A., Espinosa, R., Shevlin, M., & Vazquez, C. (2025) · Psychosis · doi:10.1080/17522439.2025.2573476
“We used the 3-item Loneliness Scale (TLS; Hughes et al., 2004; Trucharte et al., 2023) to asses loneliness.”
Self-citationDenche-Zamorano, Á. M., Adsuar, J. C., My works are correct, B. M. I. A. A. I. S. R. L. M. T. I. D. A.-M., & Salas-Gómez, D. (2025) · Geriatrics · doi:10.3390/geriatrics10050125 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“This scale has shown high internal consistency in previous research ( α = 0.82) [42].”
InfluentialCampoverde, W. G. S., & Leiva, K. M. C. (2025) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0328163
“In the field of public health, it offers empirical support for strategies addressing loneliness as a growing concern during adolescence [74,75].”
Salas-Gómez, D., Denche-Zamorano, Á. M., Mendoza-Holgado, C., & My works are correct, B. M. I. A. A. I. S. R. L. M. T. I. D. A.-M. (2025) · Applied Sciences · doi:10.3390/app15148026
Vasconcelos, C. (2025) · Critical Reflections: Journal for Philosophy and Social Sciences · doi:10.65932/cr-2025-1-3
Blakoe, M., Berg, S., Olesen, C. S., Palm, P., Højskov, I. E., & Christensen, A. V. (2025) · Contemporary Nurse: health care across the lifespan · doi:10.1080/10376178.2025.2511003
Joksimovic, N., Vallières, F., & Hyland, P. (2025) · Journal of Affective Disorders Reports · doi:10.1016/j.jadr.2025.100915
Predicting Loneliness using SVM, Logistic Regression and Decision Tree in Thailand
Meenorngwar, C., & Nithikathkul, C. (2023) · 2023 11th International Conference on Cyber and IT Service Management (CITSM) · doi:10.1109/citsm60085.2023.10455171
“Lastly, the Three-item loneliness scale[6] is a 3-item scale designed to measure loneliness in a simple, quick, and straightforward manner.”
Background
- Authors
- Trucharte, A., Calderón, L., Cerezo, E., Contreras, A., Peinado, V., & Valiente, C.
- Affiliations
- Universidad Complutense de Madrid (ES)
- Corresponding author
- Trucharte, A.
- Venue
- Current Psychology
- Published
- 2021-07-16
- Volume
- 42
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 7466-7474
- ISSN
- 1046-1310 (ISSN-L)
- 1936-4733
- PMC
- PMC8285042
- OpenAlex
- W3183947086
- Cited by
- 63
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 7
- FWCI
- 4.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Current Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Ministry of Science and Innovation ((PSI2016-74987-P))
- Instituto Carlos III ((COV20/00737-CM))
- UCM for consolidated research groups ((GR29/20))
- doctoral fellowship ((CT42/18))
- Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness doctoral Fellowship ((BES- 2017082015))
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- loneliness, Spanish adaptation, psychometric validation, reference values, factor structure, depression, anxiety, paranoia, well-being, sense of belonging, distrust, internal consistency
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