ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Quantitative Psychology and Measurement
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1542961
Psychometric properties of the Japanese translation of the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale for young and older adults
Provisionally accepted
- The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Japan
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Objective: The De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale (DJGLS) has been widely used to measure two types of loneliness: social and emotional loneliness. However, no Japanese translation has been developed. Furthermore, the characteristics of social and emotional loneliness in the Japanese population remain unclear. This study examined the psychometric properties of a Japanese translation of the DJGLS. Methods: A total of 1000 participants (500 young and older adults each) completed online questionnaires, which included items on loneliness, depression, and social isolation. Results: Confirmatory factor analyses revealed a two-correlated factor structure for the Japanese translation of the DJGLS in both young and older adults. McDonald's omega coefficient was high for both social and emotional loneliness. The emotional loneliness subscale was moderately correlated with general loneliness and depression. Furthermore, the social loneliness subscale was moderately correlated with general loneliness and social isolation. Depression was more strongly correlated with emotional loneliness than with social loneliness. Item response theory demonstrated the characteristics of each item in the Japanese translation of the DJGLS.These results support the validity and reliability of the DJGLS among young and older Japanese adults.
Keywords: DJGLS, psychometric properties, Social loneliness, Emotional loneliness, Young Adult, Older adult
Received: 11 Dec 2024; Accepted: 05 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Arai and Okawa. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Honami Arai, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Japan
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