Living Single

The truth about singles in our society.

Bella DePaulo Ph.D.

Divorcing and Becoming a Contented Single Parent: 6 Stages

Getting divorced and becoming a contented single parent is a process, often with six phases. What seems devastating at first can turn into a story of resilience and contentment.

Biased Against Asexuals? Let Me Count the Ways

Heterosexuals feel more coldly toward asexuals, research suggests. They may dehumanize them, avoid them, and discriminate against them. Anti-asexual prejudice is linked to other prejudices.

Singles Under Quarantine: Are They Really Disadvantaged?

Has the conventional wisdom about the supposed deficiencies of single people resulted in misleading stories about how singles are faring during the pandemic?

If You Were Wrong About a Core Belief, Would You Admit It?

A story of single parenting, race, love, adoption, addiction, a new kind of family, and the ways in which nature sometimes prevails over nurture.

Who’s Safe? Living Alone May Be Better Than Youth or Wealth

Living with other people may increase your risk of having COVID-19 more than being old or poor. More infections may now come from exposure to family than any other known source.

Finding Solace in Solitude: It’s Not Just About Introversion

What does it take to feel good about the time you spend completely alone? It is not about being an introvert, but feeling authentic and in control.

7 Ways Young Women Combine or Decline Work, Marriage, and Kids

Today’s young women are forging their own paths, with different profiles of work and personal lives, and implications for their earnings and stress levels.

No One to Count on? Despite the Hype, That’s Just Not True

For Americans, confidence that family or friends will be there for them has increased over time, disrupting the popular trope that they are all alone.

What Is the Life of a Single Person Worth?

In the 9/11 victims’ compensation fund, in organ transplant decisions, and now in the COVID-19 pandemic, decisions are made about the relative values of different people’s lives.

Lifelong Singles in Later Life: Stereotype-Defying Findings

A decade of research shows that it is not lifelong singles who are most likely to become lonely or unhappy in later life. But they do have one big disadvantage.

Single With COVID-19: Will You Get the Treatment You Need?

Joan DelFattore, Ph.D., asks whether marital status might affect priority for coronavirus treatment if resources become scarce. Research on singlism suggests that it could.

No Kids? 7 Things We Get Wrong About Regret

In “How to Be Childless,” Rachel Chrastil explains how our fear of future regret is based on misunderstandings of happiness, humanity, our current selves, and our future selves.

What We Need Now: 3 Types of Cocooning

Are you about to spend more time home alone than you ever wanted? Let people who love their solitude show you how to curate your time and your place and transform your experience.

Erased: Single Women, a Key Voting Bloc, Are Getting Ignored

Single women vote overwhelmingly for Democrats when they vote. But candidates, pollsters, and major media are ignoring them. No one is asking for their vote.

Living Alone: Men and Women, Young to Old, Around the World

Living alone is a global phenomenon, especially popular in Europe and North America. But there is a different profile for older people than for younger adults.

The Power and Peril of Life Beyond Romantic Relationships

Three studies show that when people get emotional support, companionship, and personal growth outside of their romantic relationship, they think more about ending that relationship.

Our Longing for Belonging: Only Half the Human Condition

In the cover story in the Atlantic on the demise of the nuclear family, David Brooks speaks to our need for belongingness. But he doesn’t understand the significance of solitude.

5 Kinds of Introverts and Their Life-Affirming Ways

Introversion is more than our preferences for socializing. It is about what’s going on in our heads, the tempo of our lives, and the environments we like best.

21 Facts About People Who Never Have Children

Across the ages, people who never have kids have been taunted but also respected, and they have thrown some shade of their own.

New Era, New Beliefs: Singles Do Better, but the Married Feel Better

People of all marital statuses believe singles do better and married people feel better, and people who have experienced marriage view single life more positively.

What Does It Take to Live a Happy Life If You Stay Single?

What skills, interpersonal tools, or psychological characteristics would you need to live a happy single life? Are they any different than for married people?

No Kids, No Concern About the Future? Insulting and Wrong

In this guest post, Kristin Noreen shatters the stereotype that people without children have no investment in the future, arguing that they may do even more to protect the planet.

What Psychology Today Readers Know That Many Others Do Not

I think many PT readers end up knowing more than even some mental health professionals and researchers. Consider these examples.

Seeking the Best of Single Life, in a Romantic Relationship

Helen Croydon wrote “Screw the Fairytale,” but now is in a committed relationship. She explains how this reaffirms her belief that singles have more fulfilling lives.

Affirming Views of Single Life Got the Most Love in 2019

Poor me, I’m single? Research challenging that tired narrative got a lot of love this year.

Why You Want to Be Alone and Why That Matters

Do you choose to be alone for positive reasons or negative ones? The answer has implications for self-acceptance, personal growth, loneliness, anxiety, and depression.

5 Reasons Why So Many Women Love Living Alone

A new study shows that once they start living alone in midlife, women, more so than men, continue to live alone. Here's why they embrace solo living.

Unafraid of Being Single? You Handle Breakups Better

People who are unafraid of being single are better at moving on after breakups. They are less likely to continue pining for their ex and trying to get their ex back onboard.

Definitive Guide to Singlism, Matrimania, and Related Biases

The practice of treating singles unfairly and glorifying married people has several names, including "singlism" and "matrimania."

Emma Watson Is “Self-Partnered,” I’m Good with “Single”

I’m happy that Emma Watson has declared herself happily single. She should have left it at that, instead of going with “self-partnered.”

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