People experiencing homelessness (PEH) are disproportionately affected by a range of physical and mental health issues. While numerous factors drive these disparities, the role of loneliness is overlooked. Using baseline data from a randomized controlled trial of an intervention aimed at reducing social isolation and poverty, this cross-sectional study assesses loneliness among PEH, including examining sociodemographic, homelessness experience, and substance use risk factors of loneliness and the association between loneliness and health. Seven hundred and sixty (709) PEH living in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay were enrolled in the study and included in multivariable logistic regression analyses. Identifying as a man (aOR = 0.67; 95% CI: 0.47, 0.97) was significantly associated with a lower odds of loneliness, while poor social support (aOR = 3.27; 95% CI: 2.29, 4.67) and greater experiences of perceived daily discrimination (aOR = 1.09; 95% CI: 1.05, 1.13) were significantly associated with a higher odds of loneliness. We also found loneliness to be significantly associated with poorer self-rated physical health (aOR = 0.42; 95% CI: 0.42, 0.85) and mental health (aOR = 0.50; 95% CI: 0.35, 0.73), even after controlling for age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, marital status, experience of unsheltered homelessness in the last 30 days, study location, social support, and daily discrimination. Addressing loneliness may be critical for improving health among PEH and could be accomplished via interventions that target social support and discrimination.
Gonzalez et al. (Sun,) studied this question.