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# Two loneliness scales agree on most correlates in 135,725 volunteers, not on education
- URL: https://www.coios.me/two-loneliness-scales-agree-on-most-correlates-in-135-725/
- Published: 2026-10-04T06:16:59.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-04T22:54:39.000Z
- Description: A cross-sectional analysis of 135,725 adult volunteers in England found younger age, being single, unemployed or disabled associated with higher loneliness on both scales, while university education was associated with higher loneliness on UCLA but lower on the ONS direct measure.
- Author: Daniel Ryan
- Tags: Behavioural science, Social connection, United Kingdom, #peer-reviewed, #confirms, #item, #source-2026-10

The INTERACT study analysed self-reported loneliness, measured by the UCLA 3-item scale and the ONS direct measure, and a neighbourhood social capital composite in 135,725 community-dwelling adults across England. Higher loneliness was associated with ages 16 to 25, being single, unemployed or living with disability on both scales, while reporting nine or more friends carried much lower odds (UCLA adjusted OR 0.09). University education went in opposite directions on the two measures, and respondents with disability had lower odds of high social capital (adjusted OR 0.77).

*Why it is interesting: The UCLA 3-item and ONS direct measures give opposite associations with university education in the same respondents.*

Source

[BMC Global and Public Health, 2 October 2026](https://doi.org/10.1186/s44263-026-00335-1?ref=coios.me)

DOI

10.1186/s44263-026-00335-1

Type

Peer-reviewed article

Design

Cross-sectional analysis of 135,725 community-dwelling adults in England (INTERACT volunteer study), ordinal and binary logistic regression

Verdict

Confirms prior evidence

Driver

[Social connection](https://www.coios.me/d-social-connection/)

Free full text

[Free to read at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.1186/s44263-026-00335-1?ref=coios.me)