Empowering,Pragmatic,or Disappointing: Appraisals of Singlehood During Emerging and Established Adulthood

Abstract

Although singlehood is common during emerging and established adulthood, it is often positioned as less desirable than being partnered. Using data from 168 single emerging (18-29 years-old) and established (30-35 years-old) adults from the United States, we explored how they appraised being single (i.e., viewing singlehood as empowering, allowing for personal goals, and/or being disappointing) and explored how demographic, romantic, and well-being indicators were associated with singlehood appraisals. Emerging and established adults did not differ in how they appraised singlehood. Overall, 42.9% felt it was true/very true that being single was empowering, 75.0% felt it was true/very true that being single facilitated personal goals and interests, and 37.5% felt it was true/very true that were disappointed to be single. Flourishing, intentional singlehood, length of singlehood, relationship interest, education, employment, and race/ethnicity were associated with singlehood appraisals.

Keywords

singlehood emerging adulthood established adulthood romantic development

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adamczyk

(2017). Voluntary and involuntary singlehood and young adults’ mental health: an investigation of mediating role of romantic loneliness. Current Psychology, 36(4), 888–904. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-016-9478-3

Arnett

J., J.

(2015). Emerging adulthood: The winding road from the late teens through the twenties (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Boyd

Stephens

D. P.

Eaton

Bruk-Lee

(2020). Exploring partner scarcity: Highly educated Black women and dating compromiseSexuality Research and Social Policy. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-020-00493-3

DePaul

(2014). Single in a society preoccupied with couples. In Coplan

R. J.

Bowker

J. C.

(eds), The handbook of solitude: Psychological perspectives on social isolation, social withdrawal, and being along (pp. 302–316). John Wiley & Sons.

Diener

Wirtz

Tov

Kim-Prieto

Choi

Oishi

Biswas-Diener

(2010). New well-being measures: short scales to assess flourishing and positive and negative feelings. Social Indicators Research, 97(2), 143–156. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-009-9493-y

Hartman

C. L.

Bonica

M. J.

(2019). A transdisciplinary, longitudinal investigation of early careerists’ leisure during the school-to-work transition. Journal of Leisure Research, 50(5), 438–460. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222216.2019.1594467

Jamison

T. B.

Beckmeyer

J. J.

(2021). Feeling stuck: exploring the development of felt constraint in romantic relationships. Family Relations, 70(3), 880–895. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12496

Jamison

T. B.

Sanner

C. M.

(2021). Relationship form and function: exploring meaning-making in young adults’ romantic histories. Personal Relationships. Advance online publication https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.124000

Kefalas

M. J.

Furstenberg

F. F.

Carr

P. J.

Napolitano

(2011). Marriage is more than being together”: the meaning of marriage for young adults. Journal of Family Issues, 32(7), 845–875. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513x10397277

10.

Lehmann

Tuinman

M. A.

Braeken

Vingerhoets

A. J. J. M.

Sanderman

Hagedoorn

(2015). Satisfaction with relationship status: development of a new scale and the role in predicting well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 16(1), 169–184. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-014-9503-x

11.

Mehta

C. M.

Arnett

J. J.

Palmer

C. G.

Nelson

L. J.

(2020). Established adulthood: a new conception of ages 30 to 45. American Psychologist, 75(4), 431–444. https://doi.org/10.1037amp0000600

12.

Moore

J. A.

Radtke

H. L.

(2015). Starting “real” life: women negotiating a successful midlife single identity. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 39(3), 305–319. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684315573244

13.

Pepping

C. A.

MacDonald

(2019). Adult attachment and long-term singlehood. Current Opinions in Psychology, 25, 105–109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2018.04.006

14.

Schulenberg

J. E.

Bryant

A. L.

O’Malley

P. M.

(2004). Taking hold of some kind of life: how developmental tasks relate to trajectories of well-being during the transition to adulthood. Development and Psychopathology, 16(04), 1119–1140. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954579404040167

15.

Sharp

E. A.

Ganong

(2011). “I’m a loser, I’m not married, let’s just all look at me”: ever-single women’s perceptions of their social environment. Journal of Family Issues, 32(7), 956–980. https://doi.org/10.1177/019251x10392537

16.

Spielmann

S. S.

MacDonald

Joel

Impett

E. A.

(2016). Longing for ex-partners out of fear of being single. Journal of Personality, 84(6), 799–808. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12222

17.

Tan

Cheng

Nakayama

George

(2021). Antecedents of the attitudes toward singlehood among young adults in Malaysia, Japan, and India. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 756090. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.756090

18.

Watkins

N. K.

Beckmeyer

J. J.

(2020). Assessing young adults’ beliefs regarding the importance of romantic relationships. Journal of Family Issues, 41(2), 158–182. https://doi.org/10.117/0192513x19871080