Associations between transient and chronic loneliness, and depression, in the understanding society study

Objectives: Loneliness has a long-established link with depression; however, patterns of loneliness, specifically transient (short-term) and chronic loneliness (longer-term), have  seldom been researched in terms of their associations with  depression and psychiatric distress. We investigated whether  chronic loneliness could predict higher levels of psychiatric  distress and higher chance of depression diagnosis (via self-report)  than transient and no loneliness. 

Methods: We used data from 18,999 participants in Waves  9 and 10 of the Understanding Society survey: a nationally representative study of adults in the United Kingdom.  The study used a between-subjects, cross-sectional, design,  where participants' scores on loneliness measures across two  time points were combined to form patterns of loneliness,  and participants were compared on their levels of psychiatric distress and depression diagnoses across the three loneliness  groups: chronic loneliness (lonely at both time points), transient loneliness (lonely at one time point) and no loneliness.

Results: Regression analyses revealed that patterns of lone?liness predicted both the likelihood of participants reporting  a history of depression diagnosis and participants' levels of  psychiatric distress. The chronic loneliness group had the  highest likelihood of self-reported depression diagnosis and had  the highest levels of psychiatric distress, compared to both  the transient and no loneliness groups. Transient loneliness,  in turn, predicted higher likelihood of reporting a history of depression diagnosis and higher levels of psychiatric distress  than the no loneliness group.

Conclusions: The study replicates and extends prior findings, suggesting that prolonged loneliness even over the  course of one year is a risk factor for poorer mental health.