Thank you for this essay. I’ve been following Dr. Bella DePaulo’s work for many years and really could relate to the findings she shares on single people who tend to prefer being on their own.

I guess for me, I personally would like to see singlehood studies as a whole evolve beyond just who wants to stay single and who wants to eventually be romantically partnered.

It would so interesting to see researchers in the future cover topics like:

- How do people who are single make sense of home, especially in societies where domesticity is traditionally tied to being among other dwellers?

- How do single people try to plan or make sense of the future for themselves?

- What role does friendship and other kin relationships play in the life of people who may be single temporarily or over the life course?

- What are some common themes around how single people try to navigate living on one income in societies that typically make it more affordable to handle personal finances in pairs?

I know these are topics that may or may not be the purview of psychologists, but they indicate that there’s so much of single life we have no academic insight into even still. Hopefully that will change someday.