Extended Singlehood in Your Twenties Linked to Declining Well-Being

Being single at 18 feels like no big deal. By 29, for those who’ve stayed unpartnered the entire time, it can feel like a different story altogether.

A large longitudinal study tracking over 17,000 young adults in Germany and the UK found that remaining single throughout young adulthood is associated with steadily declining life satisfaction and rising loneliness. The emotional gap between long-term singles and their eventually-partnered peers, barely visible in adolescence, widens significantly by the late twenties.

Researchers at the University of Zurich followed participants from age 16 to 29, collecting over 110,000 yearly assessments. All had never been in a romantic relationship at the study’s start. The team tracked who partnered up, who stayed single, and how well-being shifted over 13 years.

A feedback loop nobody plans for

Who tends to stay single longest? Men, for starters. People with higher education levels too. Those living alone or still with parents were also more likely to remain unpartnered into their late twenties.

But here’s the trap: young adults who already reported lower well-being were less likely to form that first relationship, which kept their well-being low. It’s a cycle that barely registers during adolescence but compounds with each passing year.

The differences in emotional health weren’t random or evenly distributed. They reflected a mix of social circumstances and psychological starting points that shaped who formed relationships and when. As participants approached 30, the “well-being deficit” became substantial enough to make breaking into dating for the first time even harder.

“Overall, our findings show that remaining single for a prolonged period in young adulthood is associated with moderate risks to well-being,” explains Michael Krämer, senior researcher at the University of Zurich.

When partnership finally happens

The picture shifted dramatically when participants entered their first romantic relationship. Life satisfaction jumped. Loneliness dropped, both immediately and in subsequent years. These weren’t just honeymoon-phase effects that faded quickly.

Depressive symptoms, however, told a different story. They didn’t improve with partnership, suggesting relationships ease isolation and boost day-to-day contentment but don’t automatically resolve deeper mental health struggles. Think of it as social scaffolding rather than a cure-all.

The emotional trajectory isn’t subtle. By late twenties, consistent singles reported not just missing out on romance but experiencing a broader, hardening sense of isolation as their social circles paired off and built different lives. The cumulative effect of being solo while everyone else moved on proved measurably harder than anyone might have predicted at 18.

The risks the researchers observed are moderate on average, not inevitable. But the findings challenge the narrative that extended singlehood in young adulthood is emotionally neutral. For many people, the longer it lasts, the more it reshapes how they feel about their lives and themselves.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000595