“…Respondents indicated the amount of time they experienced each item (1 = Hardly ever or never; 2 = Some of the time; 3 = Often). We focused our analyses on the first three items of the scale, given that this is the most widely used and well-validated shortened form of the scale and allows for a more transparent comparison to previous research (Hughes, Waite, Hawkley, & Cacioppo, 2004; Perissinotto, Cenzer, & Covinsky, 2012; Shankar, McMunn, Banks, & Steptoe, 2011; Steptoe, Leigh, & Kumari, 2011; Steptoe, Shankar, Demakakos, & Wardle, 2013; Warner & Kelley-Moore, 2012; α = .79). Items included “How much of the time do you feel you lack companionship/ do you feel left out/ do you feel isolated from others?” A loneliness index was created by averaging across items, producing scores ranging from 1–3, with higher scores indicating higher levels of loneliness.…”