Table 3.
The community and societal factors, their definitions and their associations with loneliness and social isolation
| Factor (Classification) | Definition | Association with loneliness (Source) | Association with social isolation (Source) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neighbourhood Disadvantage (Community) | The socioeconomic status of the area | Positive association (Lam and Wang 2022) [64] | Positive association (Settels 2021) [78] |
| Open Green Space (Community) | The amount of non-vegetated green space in the community | Negative association (Lam and Wang 2022; Park et al. 2021) [64, 71] | Not studied |
| Accessible Services (Community) | Accessibility to community buildings and infrastructure | Negative association (Gibney et al. 2019; Hodgkin et al. 2018; Stephens and Phillips 2022) [63, 64] | Negative association (Hodgkin et al. 2018; Stephens and Phillips 2022) [59, 80] |
| Neighbourhood Density (Community) | Population density of neighbourhood | Negative association (Lam 2022; Lam and Wang 2022) [63, 64] | Negative association (Lane et al. 2020) [65] |
| Neighbourhood Satisfaction (Community) | Resident-rated satisfaction with neighbourhood | Negative association (Glass 2020; Hodgkin et al. 2018; Lam 2022) [55, 59, 63] | Negative association (Hodgkin et al. 2018) [59] |
| Rurality (Community) | Geographic classification of area | Positive association (Beer et al. 2016; Beere et al. 2019; Henning‐Smith et al. 2019) [40, 41, 58] | Positive association (Beer et al. 2016) [40] |
| Social Cohesion (Community) | How supportive the neighbourhood is, as rated by participants | Negative association (Bai et al. 2021; Stephens and Phillips 2022; Yang and Moorman 2021) [35, 80, 84] | Negative association (Stephens and Phillips 2022) [80] |
| Walkability (Community) | Ease of walking around neighbourhood and to third places | Negative association (Domenech-Abella et al. 2020; Gibney et al. 2019; Park et al. 2021) [52, 54, 71] | Negative association (Lane et al. 2020) [65] |
| Transport Access (Community) | Public transport availability | Negative association (De Koning et al. 2017; Gibney et al. 2019; Park et al. 2021; Rezaeipandari et al. 2020; Woolham et al. 2013) [50, 54, 71, 74, 83] | Negative association (Garner et al. 2022) [53] |
| Public Third Places (Community) | Provision of places in the community in which social activities can occur, outside of people’s usual home and work spaces | Negative association (Cao et al. 2020; Lee 2022; Park et al. 2021; Rezaeipandari et al. 2020) [45, 66, 71, 74], No effect (Moorer and Suurmeijer 2001) [68] | Negative association (Domenech-Abella et al. 2020; Lane et al. 2020) [52, 65], No effect (Moorer and Suurmeijer 2001) [68] |
| Neighbourhood Safety (Community) | Perceived and actual crime in neighbourhood | Negative association (Dahlberg et al. 2022; Hodgkin et al. 2018; Lam 2022; Park et al. 2021; Rezaeipandari et al. 2020; Stephens and Phillips 2022; Woolham et al. 2013; Zhang and Lu 2022) [48, 59, 63, 71, 74, 80, 83, 85], No effect (Moorer and Suurmeijer 2001; Timmermans et al. 2021) [68, 81] | Negative association (Garner et al. 2022; Hodgkin et al. 2018; Stephens and Phillips 2022) [53, 59, 80], No effect (Moorer and Suurmeijer 2001) [68] |
| Housing Diversity (Societal) | Diversity of types of housing because of zoning | Negative association (Lam and Wang 2022) [64] | Not studied |
| Political Participation (Societal) | Participation in civic activities in countries where this is not mandatory | Negative association (Dahlberg et al. 2022; Henning‐Smith et al. 2019) [48, 58] | Not studied |
| Perceptions Of Ageism (Societal) | Perceived ageism by participants | Negative association (Gibney et al. 2019; Hodgkin et al. 2018; Park et al. 2021) [54, 59, 71] | Negative association (Hodgkin et al. 2018) [59] |
| Social Security Recipients (Societal) | Proportion of neighbourhood receiving social security benefits/pensions | Positive association (Timmermans et al. 2021) [81] | Positive association (Settels 2021) [78] |
| Migration (Societal) | Migrant status of participant | Positive association (Ajrouch 2008; De Jong Gierveld et al. 2015; Henning‐Smith et al. 2019; Klok et al. 2017) [34, 49, 58, 62] | Positive association (Ajrouch 2008) [34] |
| Neighbourhood Belonging (Societal) | Self-rated perception of belonging to the neighbourhood | Negative association (Beech and Murray 2013; Glass 2020; Stephens and Phillips 2022; Zhang and Lu 2022) [39, 55, 80, 85] | Negative association (Stephens and Phillips 2022; Yang and Moorman 2021) [80, 84] |
| Cultural Practices (Societal) | The material factors of culture such as taking part in cultural activities | Negative association (Beller and Wagner 2020; Burholt et al. 2018; De Jong Gierveld et al. 2015; Diaz et al. 2019; Haslam et al. 2022; Klok et al. 2017) [42, 43, 49, 51, 57, 62], No effect (Ajrouch 2008) [34] | Negative association (Diaz et al. 2019) [51] |