State versus trait loneliness in elderly New Zealanders.

505 elderly people in Auckland, New Zealand were administered state and trait versions of the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale, Version 3, and a battery of psychosocial and health measures. The Pearson correlation for scores on the loneliness measures was .86. Neither age nor gender was predictive of state or trait loneliness scores. Less education, insufficient income, and living alone were predictive of state but not trait loneliness. Having experienced the death of a spouse within the past year was predictive of trait but not state loneliness. The predictive variance for all health outcome variables was lower for trait than state loneliness.