Some Aspects of the Life of Single Adults

Abstract

On a global level, from year to year there is an increase in the number of singles, that is, people who, either willingly or unwillingly, are not in any form of partner relationship, which increases the need for research into this specific phenomenon. This paper presents certain aspects of singlehood and the challenges faced by singles, which have been reviewed and researched in the previous literature: the reasons that lead to singlehood, ubiquitous stereotypes and discrimination, the psychological well-being of singles and their functioning in the context of the workplace and complying work with family and private life. Specific methodological challenges in the given field of research and guidelines for future research are also presented. Mainly, in this paper, singleness is analyzed taking into account the perspective of never-married adults without children, who are not in a committed romantic relationship. Despite the fact that, due to their status, they often have to face criticism from those who do not respect the plurality of attitudes and life choices, single people in terms of subjective well-being, generally did not prove to be inferior to married people. Nevertheless, the relationship between marital status and psychological well-being is still complicated and ambiguous. It has been shown that it is necessary to appeal for equality of rights and treatment in terms of working conditions, regardless of a person’s personal and family status, which would ultimately have a beneficial effect on organizations and society as a whole. The lack of a larger number of targeted studies of single people in Croatia is evident. In view of the above, it would be necessary to perform more detailed research that would thoroughly examine the role of the variables presented in this paper in the context of singlehood, but also other mechanisms and determinants of satisfaction and well-being of this group of people.