The DOI matches its Crossref record; 168 of the 168 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Loneliness across time and space
Open accessAbstract
People feel lonely when their social needs are not met by the quantity and quality of their social relationships. Most research has focused on individual-level predictors of loneliness. However, macro-level factors related to historical time and geographic space might influence loneliness through their effects on individual-level predictors. In this Review, we summarize empirical findings on differences in the prevalence of loneliness across historical time and geographical space and discuss four groups of macro-level factors that might account for these differences: values and norms, family and social lives, technology and digitalization, and living conditions and availability of individual resources. Regarding historical time, media reports convey that loneliness is on the rise, but the empirical evidence is mixed, at least before the COVID-19 pandemic. Regarding geographical space, national differences in loneliness are linked to differences in cultural values (such as individualism) but might also be due to differences in the sociodemographic composition of the population. Research on within-country differences in loneliness is scarce but suggests an influence of neighbourhood characteristics. We conclude that a more nuanced understanding of the effects of macro-level factors on loneliness is necessary because of their relevance for public policy and propose specific directions for future research.
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“The direction of effects between social-media usage and mental health is unclear (Ferguson, 2021; Luhmann et al., 2022; Orben et al., 2019);”
From Social Drivers and Algorithmic Mechanisms on Digital Media. (2024) · cites this paper as Luhmann et al., 2022
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“Despite most studies on loneliness among the oldest-old in Western or high-income countries, much less is known about loneliness among the oldest-old in India, a country where collectivism, the family system, and more restrictive (i.e., more, tighter, or more demanding) norms about social relationships are emphasized, differences in correlates of loneliness may be expected [2,12,21,33].”
From Factors associated with loneliness in a national study among persons 80 years and older in India in 2017-2018 (2025) · cites this paper as [21]
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Social Drivers and Algorithmic Mechanisms on Digital Media.
Metzler, H., & Garcia, D. (2024) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/17456916231185057 · Cited by 204
“The direction of effects between social-media usage and mental health is unclear (Ferguson, 2021; Luhmann et al., 2022; Orben et al., 2019); the direction and size of effects depend on who uses social media and in what way (Büchi, 2021).”
BackgroundHajek, A., Sutin, A. R., Posi, G., Stéphan, Y., Peltzer, K., Terracciano, A., Luchetti, M., & König, H. (2024) · Aging & Mental Health · doi:10.1080/13607863.2024.2385448 · Cited by 80
Do We Become More Lonely With Age? A Coordinated Data Analysis of Nine Longitudinal Studies
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Qi, M., Wu, T., Duan, W., & Li, S. (2025) · Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.3390/bs15050696 · Cited by 66
Jia, W., Liu, L., & Peng, G. (2024) · Psychology Research and Behavior Management · doi:10.2147/prbm.s449079 · Cited by 26
Metadata
- Authors
- Luhmann, M., Buecker, S., & Rüsberg, M.
- Affiliations
- Ruhr University Bochum (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Luhmann, Maike
- Venue
- Nature Reviews Psychology
- Published
- 2022-11-07
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 9-23
- ISSN
- 2731-0574 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9640887
- OpenAlex
- W4308434869
- Cited by
- 197
- References
- 167
- Citations by year
- 2026: 55 · 2025: 83 · 2024: 41 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 2
- FWCI
- 4.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature Reviews Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Cultural Differences and Values
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Keywords
- loneliness, macro-level factors, cross-national differences, cultural values, individualism, socio-demographic structure, neighborhood characteristics, digitalization, living conditions, social needs, public policy
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