Young people aged 14 to 20 are more satisfied with independent living today than their peers were ten years ago. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by the Institute of Psychology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU). "It seems that today's adolescents are less inclined to enter romantic relationships. This might be the reason for the increased satisfaction with independent living," said psychologist Dr. Tita Gonzalez Avilés, the lead author of the recent study. A growing number of people live as singles, that is, they are not in a stable relationship. Until now, it was unclear whether this trend was accompanied by a higher level of satisfaction with this status.

Comparison between today's singles and singles from ten years ago Marriages worldwide have been declining over the past decades, while divorce rates and the share of single-person households have been increasing. "Interestingly, especially in Western industrialized countries, independent living is no longer unusual and is now considered more socially acceptable than in the past," said Dr. Tita Gonzalez Avilés from the JGU Institute of Psychology. She analyzed data from the representative longitudinal Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (pairfam), which has been studying the nature of romantic relationships and family dynamics in Germany since 2008. The latest study is based on information provided by 2,936 participants from different generational cohorts. The collected material related to two separate time periods, from 2008 to 2011 and from 2018 to 2021. This allowed researchers to differentiate the satisfaction of singles born in earlier and later cohorts during adolescence (14-20 years), early adulthood (24-30 years), and mature adulthood (34-40 years).

"While we know that independent living is gaining popularity, we have not yet determined whether individuals are now more satisfied with this way of life," added Gonzalez Avilés, explaining the purpose of the study. Their results, recently published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, show that adolescents born between 2001 and 2003 were more often singles and more satisfied with independent living than the cohort born ten years earlier. Furthermore, there were no differences among cohorts among young people aged 24 to 30 years and mature adults aged 34 to 40 years.

Multiple factors explain greater satisfaction among adolescents Although the difference in satisfaction between today's adolescents and those from ten years ago is not large, even among adolescents, it stands out compared to the historical development among adults. Gonzalez Avilés and her co-authors hypothesize that this might be due to the fact that single life has become more normative over time, especially among the younger generation. Furthermore, their attitudes towards romantic conventions have changed and they are more open to diverse types of relationships. "We assume that adolescents today may be delaying entering a stable relationship because they value their personal autonomy and individual fulfillment more than romantic partnership. However, these conclusions are – for now – speculative and require further research," concluded Gonzalez Avilés.

Source: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz