Young Americans Are Increasingly Single
Young Americans Are Increasingly Single and okay with it
Photo Luis Quintero via Pexels
A recent poll from the American Enterprise Institute’s Survey Center on American Life shows that a decent number of people without a romantic partner are single by choice. For generation Z, 73 percent of respondents said they weren’t currently dating or looking for a relationship because they had more important priorities at the moment.
The survey showed a generational gap in the different reasons why Americans are content with being single. While Gen Z's main reason for not dating was other priorities, millennials found it difficult to meet people. For Gen X, 65 percent said they can’t find someone who meets their expectations and also have more important priorities at the moment. The majority (73 percent) of Baby Boomers said they enjoy being single more than being in a relationship.
“The beauty of being single later in life is that the pressure is off — no one badgers you about when you’re going to tie the knot or have kids or follow the love script we’re expected to follow in our 20s and 30s,” Vicki Larson wrote in a New York Times Opinion article. “Finally, we get to write our own script.”
Since the start of the COVID pandemic, more Americans have moved to online dating platforms. However, the survey on American Life shows that users are divided on their experience, with women reporting significantly more negative experiences than men. College-educated women who were single also reported the greatest difficulty in finding someone who meets their expectations.
When the survey asked respondents about their dating preferences, 69 percent said they would be less likely to date someone who is unemployed. Another important consideration for Americans was proximity as 68 percent said they would be less likely to date someone that lives in another state. With the polarized nature of politics today, most Republicans and Democrats said they would be much less interested in dating those of the opposite political affiliation.
“The animosity between conservative and progressive, Democratic and Republican, right and left, is sky-high,” Psychologist Izzy Kalman wrote in a Psychology Today blog. “Not only have people been getting injured and dying in riots, but familial relations are also being stressed, with couples splitting up and children disowning their parents because of political intolerance.”
Over the past fifty years, Americans have been moving away from marriage. In 2021, only about half of Americans, with slightly more men than women, report being married. The US Census Bureau report also found that young people are waiting longer to get married. In 2016, the median age for people's first marriage was approximately 30 for men and 28 for women.
According to data collected by the American Enterprise Institute’s Survey Center on American Life, The number of Americans cohabitating with their romantic partner has more than doubled over the past three decades. Nearly six in 10 younger Americans report having cohabitated with a romantic partner without being married.
“We are nearing a time when there will be more unmarried adults in the United States than married ones, a development with enormous consequences for how we define family and adulthood in general, as well as how we structure taxation and benefits,” Charles Blow wrote in a NYT opinion article.
Being single in the United States comes with financial consequences. Laws, policies and practices favor married people over single individuals. Housing costs, health care costs and taxes are higher for single people. Author and Professor of Psychology Bella DePaulo coined the term singlism to explain this “stereotyping, stigmatizing and discrimination against people who are single.”
“In everyday life, single people are penalized financially at every turn,” DePaulo wrote for Psychology Today. “They often pay more per person than married people do for products and services, such as car insurance, home insurance, memberships, transportation, travel packages and even wills.”
Despite the challenges and financial discrimination faced by single Americans, 41 percent report they are not currently looking to date anyone. Unlike baby boomers, there are fewer societal expectations to be in a committed relationship or married before the age of 25. Young people are increasingly single, and as of now, they are content with it.