Looking for Mr. Right or Mr. He’ll Do?: The Impact of Single Stigma on Relationship Attitudes

Abstract

The present study builds upon previous research documenting stigma and discrimination against singles (people who are not in romantic relationships) by exploring how awareness of this bias influences singles’ and couples’ dating attitudes. Participants read an article describing evidence of either single stigma or no status difference between singles and couples. Then, all participants completed a measure of standards for a potential partner, single participants completed measures of interest in starting a relationship and of satisfaction with their non-romantic relationships, and dating participants completed measures of satisfaction with, investment in, and commitment to a current relationship. It was hypothesized that exposure to information about single stigma would cause all participants’ standards to decrease, single participants’ romantic interest to increase, and dating participants’ relationship evaluation to improve. None of these predictions were confirmed. Instead, all participants raised their standards, but only for attributes related to status and resources. In addition, an interesting unexpected effect of gender was found. Men reported lower relationship satisfaction and commitment after reading about single stigma, and women reported the opposite.