Relationship desire and life satisfaction among never-married and divorced men and women

Abstract

Very little attention has been paid to relationship desire and its consequences. The existing literature on relationship desire and life satisfaction among singles provides mixed findings from a limited range of datasets. To address this significant gap in the literature, this study uses the Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (Pairfam) dataset to investigate patterns of relationship desire and life satisfaction among divorced and never-married adults. The results of cross-sectional analyses showed that never-married men and women, as well as divorced women, depicted a negative correlation between relationship desire and life satisfaction. In addition, the perceived benefits of singlehood are a stronger correlate of relationship desire than life satisfaction, thus reducing the likelihood of a halo effect argument. The implications of the negative association of relationship desire with life satisfaction are discussed.