As children, we were conditioned to believe that we needed a best friend to move forward with our lives, which, as we grew older, changed to ‘get a partner, settle down, you’ll be happy’. A recent study just proved that wrong and put all those nagging comments to find a partner to rest.
According to study conducted by authors, Anne Boger and Oliver Huxfold, published in the Journal of Gerontology: Series B, as we grow older, we become perfectly okay with being single. Single people are more satisfied with their lives.
The authors worked on 2,552 participants starting from 2008, who were then again re-interviewed after six years in 2014. The data from the German Ageing Survey was collected and the results were formulated.
As a result of this conducted research, it was found that 40 to 85 year-olds who remained single were more satisfied with their lives as they grew older.
So, it turns out, being single is the key to a happy life.
The sympathetic looks I would always be at the receiving end of, just for being the only single adult in the room is now reversed because with the advancing age, single people were reportedly unaffected by loneliness.
The whole idea that backed the functioning of a romantic relationship, the idea to ‘grow old together’ so as to never be alone or worse, lonely, is not as relevant anymore.
According to the study,
“Partnership status became less relevant to loneliness over time and with age.”
In conclusion, the stigma that being single comes with is now challenged with this study, which proves that being single isn’t as bad as it’s made to sound.
I must say, cheers to singledom, the new happily ever-after!
