Roses are red, violets are blue. Americans living alone are probably lonelier, too.

Earlier this week, millions of Americans celebrated the spirit of love and consumerism that comes hand-in-hand with Valentine's Day.

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Yet plenty of people likely found themselves confronting the holiday's underside, battling feelings of loneliness and depression. And a recent study suggests those feelings might be harder to shake for those living alone.

A study released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found 6.4% of adults living alone had feelings of depression in 2021, compared with 4.1% of adults living with others. The findings, based on responses from 29,482 people who took the 2021 National Health Interview Survey, remained largely consistent regardless of sex, race, age and family income.

“People living alone may be at greater risk of social isolation and loneliness, which have been linked to higher mortality risk and adverse health outcomes, including mental health outcomes, compared with people living with a spouse or partner,” study authors wrote.

Feelings of depression were defined as those who reported having “daily feelings” of depression either “a lot of the time” or “somewhere between a little and a lot of the time,” or adults who reported having “weekly feelings” of depression “a lot of the time.”

The number of U.S. adults living alone increased 14.5% from 2012 to 2022, rising from 33.1 million to 37.9 million, according to the study. Single-person households........

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