Are Singles Really Happier Today?

Are singles happier today?

Source: Barbara Egin, used with permission.

Compared to our grandparents’ generation, people nowadays are marrying less frequently, experiencing higher rates of divorce, and often choosing to have children later in life. At the same time, people nowadays seem to accept and practice more diverse forms of relationships, such as unmarried partnerships, cohabitation without marriage, and extended periods of singlehood (Tillman et al., 2019). It almost seems as if single life has become more socially acceptable. But have singles also become more satisfied as a result of these changes?

A recently published study by Gonzalez Avilés et al. (2024) addressed this question and investigated whether singles today are more satisfied with their single life. The research team analyzed data from 2,936 participants of various birth cohorts in a large-scale representative study conducted in Germany. This study has been surveying people annually about their family, relationships, and singlehood since 2008. By examining data from two distinct periods—2008 to 2011 and 2018 to 2021—the researchers aimed to identify differences in satisfaction among singles of the same age but from birth cohorts that were 10 years apart.

There was indeed a change in the satisfaction of singles, but only in the youngest age group, which were adolescents aged 14 to 20 years. Adolescents born between 2001 and 2003 were more likely to be single than those born between 1991 and 1993 and also reported a higher level of satisfaction with their single life, although the differences were rather small. The results suggest that the importance of having a partner for individual well-being has changed for adolescents.

Additional analyses revealed that today’s adolescents have less desire for a relationship compared to the past. People who have a lower desire for a relationship are often happier with their single lives, which could explain why today’s adolescents are more satisfied with being single (Kislev, 2021).

Whereas adolescents today showed a higher likelihood of being single and tended to be more satisfied with being single, no changes were found among 24- to 40-year-old adults. What could explain this disparity? The research team suspects that adolescents encounter a broader spectrum of relationship forms than adults, possibly driven by their frequent interactions with diverse peers at school and extensive engagement with social media. Adolescents today may delay the start of a serious relationship and instead place more emphasis on personal freedom and self-realization. It is possible that changes in the single life of adults are slower and will only become more apparent across longer periods of time.

So, are singles happier today? The answer seems to be yes—at least for adolescents. Today’s adolescents are less likely to desire a relationship, are more often single, and are also more satisfied with being single than in the past. This shift suggests that singlehood is becoming increasingly recognized and accepted in society over time.

This blog post was guest edited by Tita Gonzalez Avilés, who is a postdoc in the lab of Janina Larissa Bühler at the University of Mainz. Her research focuses on singlehood and romantic relationships among young adults.

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