Relationships
Loneliness check
3 questions · 1 min
This is a very short check on loneliness. Instead of asking directly whether you’re lonely, it asks how often you feel you lack company, feel left out or feel cut off from others.
Loneliness is about how connected you feel, not how many people are around you. You can feel lonely in a crowd, or content on your own.
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What it shows
How often you feel lonely, left out or isolated.
What it doesn’t
A diagnosis, or a count of how many people you know.
Who it’s for
This check is for anyone who wonders whether they’ve been feeling more cut off than usual. That might be after a move, a break-up, a new job, becoming a parent or retiring, or simply during a long stretch of working from home.
Because it takes about a minute, it’s easy to repeat every month or so. That helps you notice whether small changes, like a regular call with a friend or joining a group, shift how connected you feel.
Questions people ask
What does the three-item loneliness scale measure?
It measures how often you feel you don’t have enough company, feel left out or feel cut off from other people. It’s about how connected you feel, not how many people you see or know.
How long does it take?
About a minute. There are three questions, each answered with “Hardly ever”, “Some of the time” or “Often”.
How is it scored?
Each answer scores 1 to 3 and the three are added up, so your score runs from 3 to 9. Higher means you feel lonely more often. There are no official cut-offs, so your result is described as low, middle or high within that range.
Is it the same as the UCLA Loneliness Scale?
It’s closely related. Its three questions were adapted from the longer Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale so they could be used in large surveys, which is why it’s sometimes called the three-item UCLA scale.
Is this a diagnosis?
No. It doesn’t diagnose anything or count how many people you know. It gives you a simple picture of how often you’ve felt lonely lately.
What if I often feel lonely?
Many people go through spells of loneliness, and it can change. Small steps, like getting back in touch with one person or joining something regular, can help. If loneliness is weighing on your mood, talking to a doctor or someone you trust is a good next step.
Where it comes from
Developed by researchers Mary Elizabeth Hughes, Linda Waite, Louise Hawkley and John Cacioppo in 2004 for large surveys.
Short Loneliness Scale by Hughes and colleagues
On iPhone or iPad?
Sprout is an app there too, and this link opens the test straight away if you have it.
Coming soon to the App Store