“Are you happy if you live alone your whole life?”… Will you be more satisfied than a married person?

If you stay single your whole life, will you be happier than someone who is married or in a relationship? Some people say it would be nice to be able to live as they please without interference from others, but research has shown that life satisfaction decreases.

According to a study published in the journal Psychological Science, people who have been single their entire lives have lower life satisfaction and different personality traits than those who have a partner. For this reason, it appears that lifelong singles need to create a network that suits them.

A research team at the University of Bremen in Germany compared life satisfaction and the five major personality traits of single people and spouses. The research team used a survey of more than 77,000 Europeans aged 50 or older. This is the first survey of lifelong single people.

Lifelong singles not only had lower life satisfaction scores, but were also less extroverted, less conscientious, and less open to experience than married people.

People who had never been in a serious relationship scored lower on extraversion, openness, and life satisfaction than those who were currently single but lived with a partner or had been married in the past. All singles scored lower than those currently in relationships.

Extraversion and Conscientiousness showed a correlation, and the higher the level of both, the higher the life satisfaction. If you have neuroticism Life satisfaction was low because they frequently experienced negative emotions and stress. Agreeableness and Openness had a low correlation with life satisfaction. Agreeable and open people had relatively high life satisfaction, but the effect was not as strong as extraversion or conscientiousness.

The research team believed that these personality differences are due to individual choice (certain personality types are more likely to be in relationships) and that personality changes due to dating are small and temporary. For example, an extrovert who starts a new relationship will resume extroversion after a certain period of time. “Extroverts are more likely to form relationships,” said Julia Stern, lead author of the study.

In countries with high marriage rates (e.g. southern European countries), single people have significantly lower life satisfaction scores. Single women had higher life satisfaction than men. Older people tended to be more satisfied with their single status than other age groups. However, satisfaction was lower compared to those with a spouse.

“This means society needs to look after people who remain single throughout their lives,” Stern said. “We need to develop programs to help older singles meet like-minded people to prevent loneliness.” “

This study was published under the title ‘Big Five Personality Traits and Life Satisfaction’.