Singles Can Be as Happy as Those in Romantic Relationships

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Voluntary singles tend to be happier than those who are alone due to circumstances (e.g., widowhood, romantic rejection). But what about comparing life satisfaction between singles and couples?

New research has found that patterns of life satisfaction in singles are surprisingly similar to the patterns for individuals in romantic relationships.

The study, conducted by Walsh et al., was published in a recent issue of the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

Investigating singlehood and happiness

Sample: A cross-sectional dataset of singles (N = 562) and coupled adults (N = 1,438).

Measures:

• Satisfaction with Life Scale: Participants indicated their degree of agreement with five items that evaluated “global life satisfaction.” Here is a sample item: “In most ways, my life is close to ideal.”
• Personal Wellbeing Index: Eight items were used to assess satisfaction in different domains, such as health, personal relationships, achievement in life, and standard of living. Participants were asked to indicate their level of satisfaction for each domain.

Results: The researchers identified seven predictors that explained most of the variance in participants’ life satisfaction. These consisted of the following:

1. Physical health
2. Perceived stress
3. Self-esteem
4. Closest friend intimacy
5. Family satisfaction
6. Friendship satisfaction
7. Romantic satisfaction

Subsequently, these predictors were included in a latent profile analysis, which produced distinct profiles for both singles and coupled adults.

The researchers concluded, “People in the happiest profiles had favorable interpersonal relationships (e.g., high friend and family satisfaction) and intrapersonal attributes (e.g., high self-esteem, low stress), while those in the unhappiest profiles showed the reverse pattern.” Importantly, this was true “regardless of whether they had a romantic partner or not.”

Additional findings: Noteworthy “trade-off patterns” were also observed in people reporting average life satisfaction.

For instance, in one profile of coupled adults, those with low friend and family satisfaction appeared to compensate for these problems with average health and high self-esteem. Similarly, in a profile of singles, average family satisfaction and high friend satisfaction compensated for low self-esteem.

When single and couple profiles were compared directly, the data showed that most “single adults follow a range of life satisfaction patterns (from happy to unhappy) that is highly similar to most of their coupled peers.”

For example, the profiles of couples with the highest level of life satisfaction were very similar to those of singles with highest life satisfaction. This suggests that “many single individuals live full and happy lives comparable to their coupled peers.”

Lastly, the results partially replicated those of a previous investigation in which singles in the “happiest profiles scored high in friendship satisfaction, family satisfaction, and self-esteem.” And individuals in the “unhappiest profiles displayed opposite patterns.”

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Takeaway

Even though a greater percentage of people in romantic relationships (vs. singles) report high life satisfaction, singles and couples have comparable ranges of happiness. Simply put, the probabilistic patterns of happiness are similar regardless of relationship status.

Furthermore, both groups appear to compensate for problems in one domain with advantages in a different domain. For example, people who feel stressed out may compensate by having high friendship satisfaction.

These findings challenge the assumption that only couples (whether dating, engaged, or married) can be very happy. Indeed, singles can—just like individuals in supportive and healthy romantic relationships—experience a happy, purposeful, and fulfilling life.