Fear of remaining single leads people to settle for less in relationships

Researchers have found that fear of remaining a single is a meaningful predictor of settling for less in relationships among both the sexes.

Lead author Stephanie Spielmann, postdoctoral researcher in the University of Toronto's Department of Psychology, said that sometimes people stay in relationships they aren't happy in, and sometimes they want to date people who aren't very good for them.

Investigators surveyed several samples of North American adults, consisting of University of Toronto undergraduates and community members from Canada and the U.S. The samples included a wide range of ages.

Co-author, Professor Geoff MacDonald of the University of Toronto's Department of Psychology, said that in their results they see men and women having similar concerns about being single, which lead to similar coping behaviors, contradicting the idea that only women struggle with a fear of being single.

He said that loneliness is a painful experience for both men and women, so it's not surprising that the fear of being single seems not to discriminate on the basis of gender.

The results have been published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology .