The long-standing cultural beliefs have taught us that being single, not in a relationship, makes people unhappy. The people in our life may pressure us to find a soulmate. Should I really have a romantic partner to be happy with?
How adequate are these stereotypes in the modern lives of men and women? It depends on personality. Recent studies indicate that living a single life can be equally satisfying and rewarding compared to being in a romantic relationship.
What Do Research Findings Show?
The findings of a recent study by Lisa Walsh, Victor Kaufman, and their colleagues from the University of California have demonstrated that single people have many individual differences in how they live and feel.
Researchers surveyed 4,835 single adults, ages 18 to 65, who were single at the time of the survey. The results of the survey identified 10 distinct groups of single people, some of whom were happier than others.
The findings showed that 14% of single adults said that they were extremely happy. In fact, they felt just as happy as the happiest couples reported in other studies. Another 40% of singles were moderately satisfied, 36% were somewhat dissatisfied, and only 10% were extremely dissatisfied.
In contrast to popular stereotypes, the majority of singles (54%) were happy and satisfied with their lives. As a result, singles can experience happiness on par with couples, challenging the misguided stigmas often associated with singlehood.
What Makes Single People Happy and Unhappy?
By focusing on typological groups of single people, researchers were able to learn more about what makes them happy.
The single people who were the happiest had strong relationships with their friends and family, a high sense of self-worth, and good personality traits. Besides, the happiest singles had a high level of extraversion, which means they were friendly and outgoing, and a low level of neuroticism, which is a tendency toward negative emotional instability.
On the other hand, the singles who were least happy had poor relationships with family and friends, low self-esteem, low extraversion, and high neuroticism.
Who Are Moderately Happy Singles?
Researchers found remarkable variations among moderately satisfied singles who fall between these two different groups. They frequently keep an emotional balance between the good and bad sides of their lives. The singles who were moderately satisfied were those who had wonderful relationships with their friends and family, but they did not necessarily need good relationships with both friends and family to be content.
On the one hand, strong friendships but strained family ties characterize one moderately satisfied group. On the other hand, the singles in the other group are content with their lives, having good family relationships but not so good friendship relationships. Another group of satisfied singles have high neuroticism, but they overcome this challenge with high extraversion.
In other words, there are lots of ways for single people to be happy. You can’t use a single stereotype to describe everyone who is single. Single people come in a lot of different types, and each has its own particular traits.
So, Being Single Can Still Make You Happy in Life
What are the main conclusions the researchers came to?
Remaining single does not necessarily lead to a life of misery. In fact, a lot of single people are as content with their lives as their married counterparts. Additionally, there are numerous options for single people to live their own unique version of the good life. Some singles are lucky to have low neurotic traits, while others have a high sense of self. Some singles treasure their friendships. Others find comfort in their families.
So, it appears that the traditional gap between happy couples and unhappy singles is not as straight as previously believed. Currently, that gap may be narrowing as singlehood gains greater acceptance and prominence in modern societies.
We shall acknowledge that happiness doesn’t hinge on romantic or marital relationships. We shall cherish the diverse ways that we can find happiness in life, whether being married, in partnerships, or now.
What is surprising is that a recent study showed that modern teens are not eager to get into a romantic relationship. Compared to teens a decade ago, they are more content with being single than being in romantic relationships.
References
Gonzalez Avilés, T., Bühler, J. L., Brandt, N. D., & Neyer, F. J. (2024). Today’s Adolescents Are More Satisfied With Being Single: Findings From a German Cohort-Sequential Study Among 14-to 40-Year-Olds. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 01461672241257139. DOI: 10.1177/01461672241257139
Karandashev, V. (August 16, 2024). Modern teens are more satisfied with being single than in romantic relationships. The Diversity of Love Journal (August 16, 2024).
Walsh, L. C., Gonzales, A., Shen, L., Rodriguez, A., & Kaufman, V. A. (2022). Expanding relationship science to unpartnered singles: What predicts life satisfaction? Frontiers in Psychology, 3: 904848. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.904848