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Abstract
Despite the worldwide increase in single-person households, little research has examined what factors contribute to a satisfying single life. We used three data sets (N = 3,890) to examine how satisfaction with sexual and social aspects of life are linked with single people’s perceptions of marriage and singlehood. Our results suggest that higher sexual satisfaction is associated with less desire to marry (Study 1), stronger beliefs that unmarried people can be happy without marriage (Study 2), and greater satisfaction with singlehood and less desire for a partner (Study 3). All effects in Studies 1 and 3 remained significant controlling for life satisfaction and sexual frequency. Satisfying friendships were associated with variables related to satisfaction with singlehood but not variables related to desire for a partner, whereas no effect was found for satisfaction with family. This study highlights the potential importance of maintaining a satisfying sex life in people’s satisfaction with singlehood.
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