📄 social_science

Social Network Size and Virtual Social Network Use in Relation to Social, Emotional, and Overall Loneliness Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

This cross-sectional study of Iranian older adults reveals that while real-life social network size is the strongest predictor of social and overall loneliness, virtual social network use independently helps alleviate emotional loneliness, suggesting that digital communication should complement rather than replace face-to-face interactions in interventions.

Original authors: Hamed Rahimzadeh Bonab, Raziye sadat Hosseini, Morteza Mohammadzadeh, Pouya Farokhnezhad Afshr, Masoumeh Bayat

Published 2026-10-05

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CC BY 4.0

Original authors: Hamed Rahimzadeh Bonab, Raziye sadat Hosseini, Morteza Mohammadzadeh, Pouya Farokhnezhad Afshr, Masoumeh Bayat

Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ✨ This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer

As people grow older, the world often seems to shrink. Friends move away, family members scatter, and daily routines become quieter. In this quiet, a specific kind of pain can take root: loneliness. Scientists understand this feeling not as a single, heavy weight, but as two distinct experiences. One is the ache of missing a specific, close bond, like a partner or a best friend; the other is the feeling of being cut off from a wider circle of people, a sense that one does not belong to a community. For decades, researchers have known that having a large group of friends and family nearby helps protect against this isolation. But in the last twenty years, a new tool has appeared in the lives of older adults: the smartphone and the internet. These digital tools allow people to talk to anyone, anywhere, instantly. This raises a vital question for our aging world: can a screen truly replace a handshake? Can clicking a button on a phone fill the same void as sitting in a living room with a neighbor?

A team of researchers in Iran set out to answer this by looking closely at the daily lives of 147 older adults living in two cities, Bonab and Maragheh. They wanted to see if the size of a person's real-life circle of friends and family mattered more than how much they used social media. To do this, they asked these participants to fill out detailed questionnaires about their loneliness, the number of people they knew, and how often they used apps like Telegram, WhatsApp, and Instagram. The researchers were careful to separate the two types of loneliness: the feeling of missing a deep, intimate connection, and the feeling of lacking a broader social group. They also checked for other factors, such as income, education, and whether the participants' children lived nearby or had moved away.

The results painted a clear, nuanced picture of how older adults connect today. The study found that the size of a person's real-life social network was the strongest factor in reducing the feeling of being cut off from society. When an older adult had more family members and friends they could see or talk to in person, they reported significantly lower levels of general loneliness and a much stronger sense of belonging. In fact, the size of this real-world circle explained a large portion of why some people felt socially isolated while others did not. The researchers found that having a larger network of people to interact with face-to-face was far more powerful at reducing this broad sense of loneliness than any amount of time spent online.

However, the story was different for the other type of loneliness. The study showed that using social media was linked to a reduction in the specific feeling of missing a close, intimate relationship. Older adults who used these digital platforms more often reported feeling less emotionally lonely. This suggests that while a phone screen might not be able to build a wide circle of acquaintances or a sense of community, it can serve as a vital bridge to the people who matter most. For the many participants in this study whose children had moved to other cities or countries, social media appeared to be a way to maintain that deep emotional bond across the distance. The researchers observed that younger seniors, those with higher education, and those with more income were the ones using these tools most, but for those who did use them, the digital connection seemed to soothe the ache of missing a loved one.

Crucially, the study did not find that social media could replace real-life interaction. The data showed that while digital tools helped with emotional loneliness, they were not strong enough on their own to fix the feeling of being socially isolated from the wider world. The researchers concluded that these two worlds—real life and virtual life—serve different purposes. A large, active group of friends and family is the best defense against feeling left out of society, while digital communication acts as a helpful supplement to keep close relationships alive when physical distance makes face-to-face meetings impossible. The findings suggest that the best way to help older adults feel less lonely is not to choose between the two, but to use both. Strengthening real-world community ties remains the most effective path to belonging, while digital tools can offer a comforting, supplementary way to stay close to the heart of one's family.

Technical Summary: Social Network Size and Virtual Social Network Use in Relation to Loneliness Among Older Adults

Problem Statement
Loneliness is a significant psychosocial challenge for older adults, associated with adverse physical and mental health outcomes. While both real-life social networks and virtual social networks (social media) are known to influence well-being, their relative contributions to distinct dimensions of loneliness—specifically emotional loneliness (absence of intimate relationships) and social loneliness (lack of broader social integration)—remain unclear. Previous research has often treated loneliness as a single construct or focused exclusively on either real or virtual networks, leaving a gap in understanding how these two factors simultaneously relate to different loneliness dimensions among community-dwelling older adults, particularly in the context of Iran's aging population.

Methodology
This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2025 among 147 community-dwelling older adults (mean age 69.24 ± 6.12 years) in Bonab and Maragheh, Iran. Participants were recruited via convenience sampling from day-care centers and Welfare Organization-affiliated centers. Inclusion criteria required participants to be aged 60 or older, have no diagnosed cognitive impairment (screened via the Abbreviated Mental Test Score), and possess access to a smartphone or laptop.

Data collection utilized three primary instruments:

De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale (Persian version): An 8-item scale (derived from the original 11-item scale) measuring social loneliness (5 items), emotional loneliness (3 items), and total loneliness. Scores range from 0 to 8, with higher scores indicating greater loneliness.
Lubben Social Network Scale-6 (LSNS-6): A 6-item instrument assessing family and friend network sizes, with total scores ranging from 0 to 30.
Social Media Use Questionnaire: A 19-item tool measuring frequency, type, and trust in virtual social networks, with scores indicating low, moderate, or high levels of use.

Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, Pearson and Kendall/Spearman correlation analyses to examine bivariate associations, and simple and multiple linear regression analyses to determine the predictive roles of social network size and social media use on the three loneliness dimensions. Demographic variables (age, gender, education, income, migration status of children, etc.) were also analyzed for associations with social media use.

Key Results

Prevalence: Participants reported relatively high levels of total loneliness (mean score 5.30/8), despite reporting moderate social network sizes and moderate social media use.
Correlations:
- Social Network Size: Showed a strong inverse correlation with social loneliness ( $r = -0.52, p < 0.001$ ) and total loneliness ( $r = -0.42, p < 0.001$ ). It was not significantly correlated with emotional loneliness ( $p = 0.238$ ).
- Social Media Use: Showed a significant inverse association with emotional loneliness ( $\rho = -0.20, p = 0.017$ ) and a weaker inverse association with social loneliness ( $\rho = -0.17, p = 0.036$ ). It was not significantly correlated with total loneliness in the bivariate analysis ( $p = 0.467$ ).
Regression Analysis:
- Social Network Size was the strongest predictor of social loneliness ( $B = -0.15, p < 0.001$ ) and total loneliness ( $B = -0.12, p < 0.001$ ), explaining 27% and 20% of the variance, respectively.
- Social Media Use independently predicted emotional loneliness ( $B = -0.04, p = 0.037$ ) and total loneliness ( $B = -0.09, p = 0.011$ ), though its contribution to overall loneliness was smaller compared to real-life networks.
Demographic Associations: Younger age, higher education, higher income, and greater diversity of social media platforms used were associated with higher levels of social media use. Satisfaction with children's migration status was significantly associated with social media use levels.

Key Contributions
The study provides empirical evidence that real-life and virtual social networks influence different dimensions of loneliness in older adults. It demonstrates that while expanding real-life social networks is the primary mechanism for reducing social and overall loneliness, social media use plays a distinct and complementary role in alleviating emotional loneliness and, when controlling for other factors, total loneliness. The research highlights that these two forms of connection are not interchangeable; rather, they serve different psychosocial functions.

Significance and Claims
The authors claim that their findings suggest digital communication should be viewed as a complement to, rather than a substitute for, face-to-face social relationships in interventions designed to reduce loneliness. Specifically, the paper posits that:

Interventions should prioritize strengthening community-based real-life social networks to address social and overall loneliness.
Social media use can be a valuable tool for maintaining emotionally meaningful relationships, particularly for older adults separated from family by migration or physical limitations, thereby helping to mitigate emotional loneliness.
A holistic approach to loneliness reduction in later life should combine strategies that foster real-world social integration with initiatives that promote meaningful and accessible digital engagement.

The study acknowledges limitations, including its cross-sectional design (precluding causal inference), the use of convenience sampling which may limit generalizability, and reliance on self-reported data. The authors call for future longitudinal studies with more representative samples to further validate these findings.

Technical Summary: Social Network Size and Virtual Social Network Use in Relation to Loneliness Among Older Adults

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