Three-Item Loneliness Scale (TILS)

The Three-Item Loneliness Scale (TILS) is a very brief method that assesses feelings of loneliness and social isolation. This questionnaire was created from the original Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale, which had 20 items. The items indirectly ask the respondent about their emotions associated with loneliness, without explicitly mentioning the word.

Length of filling

Filling out the entire questionnaire takes about 1 minute.

Individualized feedback for the respondent

After filling out the questionnaire, the respondent gains awareness of the level of perceived loneliness.

Keywords

Three-Item Loneliness Scale, TILS, loneliness, social isolation, loneliness

Scoring and interpretation

By simply adding up the scores on the three items, we get a total score ranging from 3-9, with higher scores indicating higher levels of loneliness.

Response scale

The respondent answers the questions on a three-point Likert scale: “Almost never” (1), “Sometimes” (2) and “Often” (3).

References

Garg, N., Sharma, N., & Burgess, J. (2023). Three-item loneliness scale: Exploring the psychometric properties in the Indian context. Asian journal of psychiatry, 80, 103323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2022.103323

Hughes, M. E., Waite, L. J., Hawkley, L. C., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2004). A Short Scale for Measuring Loneliness in Large Surveys: Results From Two Population-Based Studies. Research on aging, 26(6), 655–672. https://doi.org/10.1177/0164027504268574

Russell D. W. (1996). UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3): reliability, validity, and factor structure. Journal of personality assessment, 66(1), 20–40. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa6601_2

Trucharte, A., Calderón, L., Cerezo, E., Contreras, A., Peinado, V., & Valiente, C. (2021). Three-item loneliness scale: psychometric properties and normative data of the Spanish version. Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.), 1–9. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02110-x