Polish scientists create a loneliness scale with four statements — RMF24
In Poland, scientists have developed a shortened R-UCLA scale to measure the overall feeling of loneliness. It consists of four statements instead of 20 in the full Polish version of the UCLA scale. A study involving 4,130 people showed that the shortened version is an internally consistent assessment tool, RMF24 reports.
Four statements and 16 points
The new questionnaire includes statements about a lack of companionship, a feeling of lost closeness with other people, abandonment and isolation. Participants must determine how often each statement describes their condition, choosing one of four options: never, rarely, sometimes or often.
Each answer is scored from one to four points. The total result can range from four to 16 points: a higher score means a stronger feeling of loneliness. The authors emphasize that the new version determines only the overall level of loneliness, while the full Polish adaptation makes it possible to assess close relationships, social contacts and group belonging separately.
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Testing in two groups
The first stage of the study was conducted online from May 2025 to February 2026. It involved 3,477 people with an average age of about 26; women accounted for 71.5%. The researchers compared 39 sets of statements selected from the full scale and assessed their ability to measure the overall feeling of loneliness.
The selected set was then tested on an independent group of 653 participants in April–May 2026. The average age of this group was about 35, and women accounted for 60.2%. According to the authors, similar results in both samples indicate the reliability of the short instrument.
The first author of the article, published in the journal Health Psychology Report, is Andrzej Piotrowski from the Institute of Psychology at the University of Gdańsk. Researchers from several Polish universities also took part in the work. The scientists noted that further research is needed to test the scale's performance in different demographic groups and assess the stability of results over time.
