AI-Mediated Loneliness
Psychology: Mental HealthReliability: alpha 0.873 sample items
About this scale
A multi-item measure of loneliness despite, or because of, frequent AI interaction. Captures whether AI companionship substitutes for or undermines human social contact.
Sample item(s)
“I sometimes prefer talking to AI than talking to a real person”
“I rely on AI for conversation more than I rely on people”
“Despite spending time with AI, I feel lonely”
Reliability
Reported internal consistency: alpha 0.87. As a rule of thumb, Cronbach’s α ≥ .70 is considered acceptable, ≥ .80 good, and ≥ .90 excellent for established measures.
Notes
Pair with UCLA Loneliness Scale and AI use frequency.
Source & citation
Maples, B., Cerit, M., Vishwanath, A., & Pea, R. (2024): Loneliness and suicide mitigation for students using GPT3-enabled chatbots. NPJ Mental Health Research, Vol. 3, Article 4.
Source. Scale details are summarised from the publication cited above. Always consult the original source for the full item set, scoring, and permission to use.
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