Loneliness and Attachment Orientations: A Meta-Analysis

Loneliness is a distressing subjective experience reflecting a lack of fulfilling socialconnections. But why are some people more likely to experience loneliness than others?Attachment theory provides a possible explanation: stable patterns of emotions, cognitions,and behaviors rooted in early relationships shape the quality and stability of socialrelationships throughout life, and consequently, the likelihood of experiencing loneliness.While previous research has consistently linked insecure attachment orientations to higherlevels of loneliness, important questions about the strength, robustness, and moderators of thisassociation remain open. We addressed these gaps in a meta-analysis of bivariate correlationsbetween loneliness and attachment orientations, using random-effects robust varianceestimation. Across 91 publications, 108 independent samples, and 441 effect sizes, we founda strong and robust association: individuals with higher attachment-related anxiety oravoidance reported higher levels of loneliness (overall r = .38). Moderator analyses androbustness checks revealed that this association holds across various populations and studycharacteristics, including age, gender, relationship status, and sample type. However, thestrength of the association varied depending on socio-cultural context and the attachmentfigures considered. Moreover, we observed differences between loneliness facets andattachment dimensions, though these may also reflect scale characteristics rather thangenuine conceptual distinctions. Overall, these findings highlight a substantial associationbetween attachment insecurity and loneliness and suggest that targeting attachment-relatedvulnerabilities could be crucial for preventing or reducing loneliness.