Abstract
Prominent tools used to measure loneliness such as the UCLA Scale and DJGS include no items related to being needed, i.e., neededness. More recent scales such as the DLS and SELSA do include items on neededness, but only within their romantic loneliness subscales. This paper proposes that new iterations of loneliness scales should include in all subscales two items on neededness: (a) whether a person feels important to someone else and (b) whether that person has good ways to serve others’ well-being. The paper surveys cognate studies that do not rely on loneliness scales but establish a link between neededness and feelings of social connection. It then highlights ways in which neededness items would improve the ability of loneliness scales to specify the risk profile, to delineate variations in the emotional tone and quality of loneliness, and to propose suitable interventions. The paper outlines a theoretical argument—drawing on moral philosophy—that prosociality and being needed are non-contingent, morally urgent human needs, postulating that the protective benefits of neededness vary according to at least four factors: the significance, persistence, non-instrumentality, and non-fungibility of the ways in which a person is needed. Finally, the paper considers implications for the design of appropriate remedies for loneliness.
Highlights
A growing body of social psychology evidence identifies prosocial behaviour and feelings of ‘being needed’ as protective factors for well-being [1,2]
When it comes to measuring loneliness, prominent tools such as the UCLA Loneliness Scale leave out such neededness factors
This paper proposes that new iterations of loneliness scales should incorporate two kinds of neededness items in order to study accurately the degree of association between impoverished social contribution and loneliness, with one item focusing on whether a person perceives themself as important to, or needed by, one or more others, and one item focusing on whether they perceive that they have good ways to contribute to others’
Summary
A growing body of social psychology evidence identifies prosocial behaviour and feelings of ‘being needed’ as protective factors for well-being [1,2]. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 429 prosociality, utility, and well-being (Section 3); summarises the findings in some qualitative studies in which lonely people report feeling unneeded (Section 4); notes ways that loneliness scales would be improved through the inclusion of neededness items (Section 5); outlines the theoretical case for the view that prosociality and neededness (of a specific standard) are non-contingent, fundamental human needs, a view that has implications for public policy (Section 6); and, considers some implications of taking neededness as a key reference point in the design of treatments and remedies for loneliness, assessing the adequacy of different social contexts and association types as better or worse sites in which to achieve adequate levels of neededness (Section 7). It is possible that a person might not be needed much at all by others, but perceive themself as needed, such as a busybody or someone exhibiting features of a ‘white savior complex’
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
