UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLA) Test

Completed in four minutes, the UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLA) Test uses 20 questions to explore how connected or isolated you may feel in everyday relationships. Your result highlights patterns in perceived companionship, understanding, social contact, and emotional experience, offering a focused starting point for self-reflection about your social well-being.

Questions: 204 minutes

UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLA) Test: agreement scale card

October 2, 2025October 2, 2025Material has been updatedOctober 2, 2025Material has been published

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Daniel Hall Psychologist · Test reviewer

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Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

Perceived Lack of Understanding by OthersPLoUbO

Measures the extent to which a person feels misunderstood by others and perceives a lack of support, as a cognitive component of loneliness.

example score4/9

4/9Lowexample score

0 – 5Low

6 – 9High

A score of 4 falls in the Low range, suggesting occasional or mild feelings of being misunderstood or unsupported rather than a persistent sense of alienation.

Impaired Social ContactsISC

Assesses behavioral signs of loneliness reflected in isolation, alienation, and reduced social activity that can disrupt social connections.

example score14/30

14/30Lower disruptionexample score

0 – 15Lower disruption

16 – 30Higher disruption

A score of 14 falls in the lower disruption range, suggesting relatively fewer behavioral difficulties with initiating or maintaining social contacts at this time.

Negative AffectNA

Measures the intensity of negative emotional experiences associated with loneliness, such as isolation, rejection, and worthlessness.

example score9/21

9/21Lowexample score

0 – 9Low

10 – 21High

A score of 9 falls in the Low range, suggesting relatively limited negative emotional experiences related to loneliness at this time.

Loneliness ScaleLS

Measures the overall intensity of subjective loneliness across emotional, cognitive, and behavioral experiences of social connection and isolation.

example score35/60

35/60High lonelinessexample score

0 – 28Low loneliness

29 – 60High loneliness

A score of 35 falls in the High loneliness range, suggesting a relatively pronounced subjective sense of isolation and dissatisfaction with social contacts.

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DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

Feeling socially disconnected

41%OF USERS

People who feel left out or isolated take it to understand how strong their loneliness is and what parts of connection feel hardest.

Life transition stress

34%OF USERS

Those going through moves, breakups, starting university, or changing jobs use it to check whether loneliness is increasing during the adjustment.

Clients in counseling

25%OF USERS

People already working with a psychologist or support group take it to track progress and clarify which support strategies to focus on.

BASED ON AGGREGATED, ANONYMIZED DATA FROM TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FREUDLY USERS.

Benchmarking

See How You Compare

Once you complete the test, your results are compared with real-world data from people in your country.
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.

Shaded area — where most people score

Dot — the average

You — your score lands on each curve after the test— your score, after the test

Misunderstanding by othersMbo

You?

Average4.5

Typical rangeTypical3.3 – 5.7

Possible0 – 9

Disruption of Social ContactsDoSC

You?

Average8.6

Typical rangeTypical3.4 – 13.9

Possible0 – 30

Negative ExperiencesNE

You?

Average7.8

Typical rangeTypical4 – 11.6

Possible0 – 21

Loneliness ScaleLS

You?

Average28.2

Typical rangeTypical18.8 – 37.6

Possible0 – 60

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SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Example Questions From the Test

- Often
- Sometimes
- Rarely
- Never
- Often
- Sometimes
- Rarely
- Never
- Often
- Sometimes
- Rarely
- Never

These are 3 of the 20 real questions — the rest appear in the test. No sign-up needed to start.

WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLA) Test - Description and methodology of the test

loneliness

social alienation

For readers who want a clearer picture of their social experience, the UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLA) Test offers a structured way to consider whether connection, companionship, and emotional closeness feel available. It can help distinguish social distance, uncertain support, and disconnection in shared settings when relationships feel hard to read. This loneliness assessment presents the result as a profile of perceived experience rather than a fixed identity.

What This Assessment Explores

Loneliness is treated as a subjective experience expressed through thoughts, feelings, and patterns of social contact. The statements address companionship, understanding, closeness, exclusion, friendship, and relationship quality. The UCLA test for loneliness presents overall subjective loneliness alongside cognitive, behavioral, and emotional manifestations.

The result is organized into four scales:

Loneliness Scale (0-60) assesses overall subjective loneliness across emotional, cognitive, and behavioral manifestations; bands are Low loneliness 0-28 and High loneliness 29-60.
Perceived Lack of Understanding by Others (0-9) measures feeling misunderstood or unsupported; bands are Low 0-5 and High 6-9.
Impaired Social Contacts (0-30) reflects isolation, detachment, passivity, and difficulty maintaining contact; bands are Lower disruption 0-15 and Higher disruption 16-30.
Negative Affect (0-21) captures feeling closed off, unwanted, isolated, or rejected; bands are Low 0-9 and High 10-21.

Together, these scales show which aspects of loneliness stand out.

Methodology and Scientific Basis

Each statement is answered by frequency: Often, Sometimes, Rarely, or Never; the choices may also be numbered. The online questionnaire combines responses into the displayed scales, but it does not provide a scoring key for item weighting or reversal. Interpretation should follow the reported scales and bands rather than an assumed point-by-point formula.

The online questionnaire is conceptually consistent with the published UCLA Loneliness Scale measures, including the self-report measure described by Russell et al. (1978), but it should not be treated as a reproduction or validated adaptation of any one version. Russell, Peplau, and Cutrona (1980) examined concurrent and discriminant validity, and Russell (1996) reported reliability, validity, and factor structure for Version 3.

For someone completing the online loneliness questionnaire, higher displayed values generally indicate greater experience in the relevant domain. The displayed bands sort results into lower and higher ranges; they are not universal clinical cutoffs or population norms. Scores may vary with circumstances and depend on how accurately respondents can report their current experience, so they describe a self-report profile rather than establishing a diagnosis or replacing broader assessment.

Author: Daniel W. Russell, Letitia Anne Peplau, Mary E. Ferguson

Literature:

Russell, D. W., Peplau, L. A., & Ferguson, M. L. (1978). Developing a measure of loneliness. Journal of Personality Assessment, 42(3), 290-294. 10.1207/s15327752jpa4203_11
Russell, D. W., Peplau, L. A., & Cutrona, C. E. (1980). The revised UCLA loneliness scale: Concurrent and discriminant validity evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39(3), 472-480. 10.1037/0022-3514.39.3.472
Russell, D. W. (1996). UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3): Reliability, validity, and factor structure. Journal of Personality Assessment, 66(1), 20-40. 10.1207/s15327752jpa6601_2

Updated: 2025-10-02