The relationships between social support and loneliness: a meta-analysis and review
Open accessAbstract
The loneliness of modern people is becoming more and more prominent, and has brought profoundly negative effects on mental health. Social support is an important predictor of loneliness. However, the size of the correlation reported by studies on the relation between social support and loneliness varies greatly. The aim of this meta-analysis is to determine the relation between social support and loneliness. One hundred and seventy-seven articles (N = 113,427) were identified, and robust variance estimation with random effects were used. As expected, higher levels of social support were negatively correlated with loneliness (r = -0.39). The association between social support and loneliness were also moderated by several variables. Specifically, the negative relationship between loneliness and social support among rural populations is stronger than that of urban populations in Chinese samples, the effect of perceived social support (r = -0.45) on loneliness is greater than that of other social supports (r = -0.36), and the friend support (r = -0.48) played a more important role in reducing loneliness than that of two other supports (family support: r = -0.34; significant other support: r = -0.40). The current results support robust links between social support and loneliness, emphasizing the important role of social support in reducing levels of loneliness, this may have some implications for future research and loneliness treatments.
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Loneliness and social support have an inverse relationship: people who feel socially supported are less subject to loneliness.
“Loneliness and social support have an inverse relationship: people who feel socially supported are less subject to loneliness (Matthews et al., 2016; Teo et al., 2013; Zhang and Dong, 2022).”
From Social connections combat loneliness and promote wellbeing among college students coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic (2025) · cites this paper as Zhang and Dong, 2022
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Chen, S., Li, H., & Wen, D. (2023) · Psychology Research and Behavior Management · doi:10.2147/prbm.s432400 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
“41 However, there is a lack of research on mediating the relationship between loneliness on social support and daytime sleepiness.”
BackgroundLoneliness and AI chatbot dependence in young adults: the mediating role of perceived social support
Uğuz, Ö., Doğan, S., & Gungor, D. (2026) · BMC Psychology · doi:10.1186/s40359-026-04916-5 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“This indicates that as individuals’ perceptions of available social support decrease, experiences of loneliness increase, consistent with well-established evidence in the literature [26, 66].”
Jensen‐Campbell, L. A., Dougall, A. L., Heller, A. C., Iyer‐Eimerbrink, P. A., Bland, M. K., & Hull, K. N. (2023) · Brain Sciences · doi:10.3390/brainsci13121691 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
“Friends, however, are often rated higher than parents for overall support [96], and the relationship between friend support and loneliness is more robust than it is for either family or significant other support [81,84].”
BackgroundWang, Y., Xu, X., Lv, Q., Zhao, Y., Zhang, X., & Zang, X. (2024) · International Journal of Nursing Practice · doi:10.1111/ijn.13246 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Self-citationWei, G., Xinyue, X., Xiran, Z., Zhao, Y., & Liang, K. (2026) · Acta Psychologica · doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2026.106914 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Huang, G., Yang, X., Yao, L., Li, X. D., Wu, Y., Zhou, S., & Wang, Y. (2026) · Frontiers in Aging · doi:10.3389/fragi.2025.1594513 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Yi, J., Fang, C., Chen, I., Lin, Y.-C., Hou, W., Aljaberi, M. A. A., Lai, Y.-C., Chen, J., Lin, I., Griffiths, M. D., et al. (2025) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-025-08339-0 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“This relationship may be attributed to the strong connection between loneliness and social support (Solomon et al., 2015; Zhang and Dong, 2022 ).”
Transitions of loneliness and lonely life expectancy: A longitudinal study across 24 countries.
Zhu, J.-J., Huang, Z.-Y., Yang, S.-L., Jiang, J.-J., You, H., & Gao, J.-L. (2025) · International Psychogeriatrics · doi:10.1016/j.inpsyc.2025.100134 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
How digital economy shapes older adult care services: evidence from China
Bian, Q., Kong, Z.-H., & Kong, J.-M. (2025) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2025.1610952 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“Extensive research has also shown that substantial social support is closely correlated with enhanced physical and mental wellbeing in older adults, as well as successful ageing (39–41).”
Wang, C.-Y., Shuai, Y., Wang, H., & Ma, Z. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1595773 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“Previous research has identi fi ed social support as a critical predictor of loneliness, with higher levels of social support negatively correlated with loneliness (23).”
Ao, S. H., Zhu, Y., Wang, J. Z., & Zhao, X. (2025) · Digital Health · doi:10.1177/20552076251346659 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“29,30 Mehrabian and James 31 introduced the SOR framework as a theoretical lens to examine the effects of external stimuli on an individual ’ s internal processes.”
Wilson, S. V., Peng, S., & Krendl, A. C. (2025) · Aging & Mental Health · doi:10.1080/13607863.2025.2491026 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“…has been measured in ways that could disproportionately focus on reactive sources of support (e.g. emotional or instrumental received support, social network size) (Zhang & Dong, 2022), and generally underexamined factors that might provide proactive sources of support (e.g. relationship quality).”
InfluentialZhao, J. V., Wu, Y., Yuan, J., Miao, J., Wang, X., Yu, Y., & Zang, S. (2024) · BMC Nursing · doi:10.1186/s12912-024-02537-0 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Liu, H., Wang, J., Chen, R., Xu, X., Pang, M., Feng, K., Li, B., Li, Q., Qin, Z., Yan, S., et al. (2025) · JMIR Public Health and Surveillance · doi:10.2196/66061 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“The economic development gap between urban and rural areas led to higher medical and education services in urban areas, which further resulted in population mobility mainly from rural to urban areas in China [69,70].”
Putri, R. A., Syukrilla, W. A., & Nihayah, Z. (2024) · Psikoislamika Jurnal Psikologi dan Psikologi Islam · doi:10.18860/psikoislamika.v21i1.26303 · Cited by 5
“As research by Zhang and Dong (2022) that the intensity of friends' support for loneliness is higher than family support and significant other support.”
BackgroundResultWang, J., Zhang, W., Song, P., Wang, T., Yao, Y., Chen, Y., Lin, H., Yang, X., Chen, X., & Fu, C. (2024) · Psychology Research and Behavior Management · doi:10.2147/prbm.s484113 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“73 It is notable that poor mental health literacy was a risk factor for higher loneliness.”
Pojmonpiti, S., Syed, S. S., Srinivasan, M., Tsakos, G., Müller, F., & Janssens, B. E. (2026) · Gerodontology · doi:10.1111/ger.70072 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“…support overlaps with both functional and structural support, as it involves assistance provided when needed, whereas perceived support reflects the expectation that help will be available during times of need and can be concep-tualised through constructs such as loneliness [13, 17, 22, 23].”
Lau, C., Chen, S., & Saklofske, D. H. (2025) · Academic Psychiatry · doi:10.1007/s40596-025-02293-6 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Supke, M., Schaubruch, L. M., Cohrdes, C., Kausmann, C., Schäfer, S. K., & Lieb, K. (2025) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-025-25285-5 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“At the social level, psychological and public health research frequently examined received and perceived social support, which is generally associated with better mental health and more resilient outcomes [27–29].”
Hu, C., Chen, Y., Li, X., Wang, X., & Chu, J. (2025) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2025.1625322 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“At the initial level, a significant negative correlation was identified: individuals with higher levels of loneliness perceive lower levels of social support (2).”
InfluentialAslan, Y., & Koçak, O. (2025) · The British Journal of Social Work · doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcaf083 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Du, J.-L., Wu, X.-L., Zhang, Q., Wang, Y., Chen, Y., & Nie, C.-C. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1507591 · Cited by 4
“Additionally, elderly individuals living alone may be more inclined to reduce social interactions or outdoor activities, which increases their sense of loneliness and creates a more closed-off lifestyle (Scarantino et al., 2022; Zhang and Dong, 2022).”
Gordon, N. P., & Stiefel, M. C. (2024) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0307107 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Suicide risk factors among older adults: Implications for counselors as Medicare providers
Mize, M. C., Shannonhouse, L., Minton, C. A. B., Fullen, M. C., Shaikh, A. N., & Westcott, J. B. (2024) · Journal of Counseling & Development · doi:10.1002/jcad.12512 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Zhang, J., Xiang, X., Yang, X., Mei, Q., & Cheng, L. (2023) · Heart & Lung · doi:10.1016/j.hrtlng.2023.11.013 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Anaya, L., Howley, P., Waqas, M., & Yalonetzky, G. (2023) · Economic Inquiry · doi:10.1111/ecin.13181 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Jian, C.-P., Peng, X.-D., Tian, H., & Ding, Q. (2026) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2026.1747285 · Cited by 3
Ishikawa, T., Kyttä, M., & Rinne, T. E. (2026) · International Journal of Health Geographics · doi:10.1186/s12942-026-00451-z · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“Promoting positive social ties through social interaction is a key protective factor against loneliness [6–8].”
Investigating associations of social media use motives and mental well-being in adolescents
Murray, N. E., Marin-Dragu, S., Cormier, M., Li, S., Hossne, J. S., Muzamil, M., Bagnell, A. L., Sherry, S., Orji, R., Stewart, S. H., et al. (2025) · Computers in Human Behavior Reports · doi:10.1016/j.chbr.2025.100846 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Xia, G., Huang, M.-J., Chen, Q., Pu, Y., Dong, L., Zeng, Y., Wang, L., & Chen, Y. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1649317 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Perceived social support according to the type and number of addictions
Tomei, A., Studer, J., & Gmel, G. E. (2025) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0329256 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“Regarding mental health, perceived social support is associated with lower levels of depression and anxiety, reduced loneliness [28,29], higher self-esteem, and better sleep quality [30–33].”
Johnstone, G., Joe, A., Dickins, M., & Lowthian, J. A. (2025) · BMC Geriatrics · doi:10.1186/s12877-025-06099-x · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Francisco-Sánchez, A., Martínez-León, S., García-Pérez, A., Báez-Hernández, J. A., Rodríguez‐Álvaro, M., & Hernández, A. M. G. (2025) · Healthcare · doi:10.3390/healthcare13121465 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Guo, L., Shi, Q., Chen, L., Dai, S., & Ju, Q. (2025) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-025-23146-9 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“A lack of such support may lead patients to be more likely to be isolated [22, 23].”
Yu, H., Bauermeister, J. A., Oyiborhoro, U., Villarruel, A. M., & Bonett, S. (2025) · International Journal for Equity in Health · doi:10.1186/s12939-025-02475-6 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“Second, implementing strategies to reduce loneliness and enhance social support is critical [68, 69].”
Loneliness‐associated factors among older adults: Focus on friendship type and number of friends
Inoue, Y., Hamada, H., Nakatani, H., & Ono, I. (2025) · Japan Journal of Nursing Science · doi:10.1111/jjns.12649 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“The intensity of relationship between friend support and lone-liness was higher compared with that of other support (i.e., family and significant other support) (Zhang & Dong, 2022).”
Liu, H., Chen, X., Yao, Y., He, W., Zhang, Q., & Zeng, H. (2024) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/s12888-024-06349-z · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Mafla-España, M. A., Corchón, S., Pedro, P. J.-D., Valle, V. I.-D., & Cauli, O. (2024) · Nursing Reports · doi:10.3390/nursrep14040273 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“Loneliness can differ depending on social roles [27].”
Prado, A. D. S., Baldofski, S., Kohls, E., Bianchi, A., Oda, F. S., Freitas, J. D. L., & Rummel‐Kluge, C. (2024) · BJPsych Open · doi:10.1192/bjo.2024.762 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“52 In both samples, perceived social support was found to be a joint protective factor for resilience and self-efficacy.”
Zhao, Y., Xu, Y., Wang, T., Hua, M., Baral, S., Sun, Q., & Wang, D. (2024) · Asia-Pacific Journal of Oncology Nursing · doi:10.1016/j.apjon.2024.100617 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Weissberger, G. H. (2024) · Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.3390/bs14090830 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“While enhancing social support is generally thought of as a way to reduce loneliness, certain factors (e.g., urban vs. rural residential status [21]) have been shown to moderate the relationship between perceived social support and loneliness, and a person with high levels of social support may…”
Health equity in urban and rural settings: implementation of the place standard tool in Spain
Ortiz, A. O., Gea-Caballero, V., Juárez‐Vela, R., Peiró, R., Pérez‐Sanz, E., Santolalla‐Arnedo, I., Sufrate‐Sorzano, T., Garrote‐Cámara, M. E., & Paredes-Carbonell, J. J. (2024) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2024.1292032 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“…rural contexts, it has been observed that social interaction, especially during childhood and old age, benefits from the availability of essential services, such as shops and public transportation, as well as meeting spaces, like squares, community centers or well-maintained parks (21, 22, 39, 86).”
Cui, H., Chen, H., Gao, W., Shi, S., Li, Y., Li, H., & Shen, B. (2023) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2023-073868 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“Moreover, future works will require multidepartment cooperation to assess their needs, provide individualised care and love and offer incentives in order to reduce their psychological burden, improve their quality of life and enable them to engage in healthcare with a healthy mind.”
BackgroundWang, K., Ortiz, D. V., Colón, L., Sun, F., & Falcón, L. M. (2022) · Aging & Mental Health · doi:10.1080/13607863.2022.2149695 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“…2022 KEYWORDS Post-traumatic stress; discrimination; loneliness; Puerto Ricans social support has been primarily conceptualized as a contributor to individuals’ feelings of loneliness versus the other way around (Hombrados-Mendieta et al., 2013; S. Zhang et al., 2018; X. Zhang & Dong, 2022).”
BackgroundHeaney, S., Collins, K., Blassey, A., Lee, C., Pearson, I., van Wijk, J. V., Brown, A., & Brown, L. J. (2026) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-025-26169-4 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“Improving social support has been shown to reduce levels of social isolation and loneliness [18].”
Meier, Z., Helvich, J., Novak, L., Fürstová, J., Machů, V., Vágner, L., & Tavel, P. (2026) · Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health · doi:10.1186/s13034-026-01026-3 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“Similarly, strong family support serves as a protective factor against loneliness [20–22], providing emotional stability and reducing the likelihood of mental health issues [23–25].”
Liang, Y.-D., Chen, C.-M., & Liu, S. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1695190 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“This fi nding is consistent with evidence showing that loneliness in youth is shaped by long-term interpersonal trajectories and broader social ecologies that extend beyond school-based activities (29, 30, 36).”
Nepali, S. (2026) · Journal of social service research · doi:10.1080/01488376.2025.2606069 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Long COVID symptoms and loneliness: findings from the World Trade Center Health Registry
Sisti, J., Packard, S. D., & Metzler, J. (2025) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-025-26006-8 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“We hypothesized that pre-infection social support may confound the association between loneliness and long COVID through associations of low social support with post-infection loneliness [25] and indirect associations of low social support with long COVID through pre-infection loneliness [26].”
Wen, L.-Y., Zhang, L., Zhu, L., Wang, A., Feng, Y., Tao, Y.-J., Chen, X.-G., Chen, Z.-Z., Jin, Y., Zhu, Y., et al. (2025) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/s12888-025-07587-5 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“Studies have found that higher levels of perceived social support are significantly negatively correlated with loneliness, with friends support playing a stronger role than family support [111].”
Ge, J., Han, Y., Peng, S., Zhang, S., & Zheng, L.-M. (2025) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2025.1675383 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Zhou, L., Li, X., & Wang, F. (2025) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-025-27037-2 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“Importantly, loneliness has been linked to adverse outcomes in higher education, including increased anxiety and depression, lower academic persistence, and reduced well-being 12 .”
Verboon, K. E., Bicanic, I., Muris, P., Verkuil, B., Elzinga, B. M., & Kullberg, M. J. (2025) · Child Abuse & Neglect · doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2025.107702 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Zhu, N.-G., Zhao, D., Cui, H., & Sun, S.-H. (2025) · World Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery · doi:10.4240/wjgs.v17.i7.106026 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“In addition, comorbidities may lead to decreased patient confidence in treatment, further exacerbating FCR[31].”
InfluentialZhao, R., Ye, Z., Ming, H., Peng, J., Wo, P., Yang, H., Zhang, L., & Xiong, X. (2025) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/s12888-025-07020-x · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“…social interactions and support systems, and the lack of an effective social support may aggravate their psychological distress, leading to an inability to participate in normal daily activities, thus increasing the risk of loneliness and hopelessness, which is a risk factor for SI [52, 53].”
Happiness in the European Union: A Panel Regression Model and TOPSIS Analysis
(Durnoi), A.-N. C., Jigani, A.-I., Chiriță, N., & Delcea, C. (2025) · Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence · doi:10.2478/picbe-2025-0204 · Cited by 2
“Having friends and relatives near when in need, performing charitable acts, and being caring towards others greatly increase our well-being (Amati et al., 2018; Azizi et al., 2017; Fernandez-Portero et al., 2023; Jigani et al., 2024; Moeini et al., 2018; Samreen & Majeed, 2019; Zhang & Dong, 2022).”
Barański, M., & Poprawa, R. W. (2025) · Health Psychology Report · doi:10.5114/hpr/202320 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“On the other hand, social support can be understood as the opposite of loneliness, but a lack of it is not necessarily accompanied by experiencing loneliness (Zhang & Dong, 2022).”
Uygun, E. G., Erus, S. M., & Satıcı, B. (2025) · Children and Youth Services Review · doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2025.108269 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Wu, H., Liu, D.-X., Zhou, Q.-X., Dong, Y.-X., & Kong, L.-N. (2025) · Geriatric Nursing · doi:10.1016/j.gerinurse.2025.02.003 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
- Authors
- Zhang, X., & Dong, S.
- Affiliations
- Jiangxi Normal University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Zhang, Xing
- Venue
- Acta Psychologica
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2022-07
- Volume
- 227
- Pages
- 103616
- ISSN
- 0001-6918 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4280498737
- Cited by
- 222
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 75 · 2025: 82 · 2024: 44 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 2
- FWCI
- 5.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Acta Psychologica (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Jiangxi Normal University Yaohu Campus (JD20061)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Health and Well-being Studies
- Keywords
- social support, loneliness, perceived social support, friend support, family support, significant other support, urban-rural differences, Chinese adults, mental health
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Loneliness, Social Support, Asian People
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