According to research conducted by a team of psychologists in Germany and published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, teenagers today are not only more likely to be single, but happier about it compared to previous generations. The research examined how satisfaction with being single has changed over time in different age groups. For their main analyses, the team included 2,936 participants who remained single throughout the study period. They provided annual data on their satisfaction with singlehood and overall life satisfaction over three consecutive years. They focused on three age groups: adolescents (14-20 years), emerging adults (24-30 years), and established adults (34-40 years). Researchers were shocked to find that later-born adolescents born between 2001 and 2003 reported higher satisfaction with being single than older generations.
Adults in their 20s and 30s, just one decade older than the teenagers, did not have similar satisfaction with being single. Many researchers suggest that societal changes in how relationships and individual autonomy are viewed have strongly impacted the youngest generation. “We assume that adolescents nowadays may postpone entering into a stable relationship because they value their personal autonomy and individual fulfillment over a romantic partnership,” said psychologist and lead author Dr. Tita Gonzalez Avilés. “It seems that today’s adolescents are less inclined to pursue a romantic relationship. This could well be the reason for the increased singlehood satisfaction.”
While the younger generation shows higher levels of satisfaction being single, the study uncovered factors that were associated with higher satisfaction among singles across all age groups. For established adults, the study found that single women, ages 34 to 40, reported higher satisfaction with being single than single men in the same age group. However, the research found that singles' satisfaction declines overtime. Researchers suggest that while attitudes may be changing through the generations, the idea of long-term singlehood is still a challenge for people in older generations.
