Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017;36(4):888-904.
doi: 10.1007/s12144-016-9478-3. Epub 2016 Jul 19.

Voluntary and Involuntary Singlehood and Young Adults' Mental Health: an Investigation of Mediating Role of Romantic Loneliness

Katarzyna Adamczyk  1
Affiliations

Voluntary and Involuntary Singlehood and Young Adults' Mental Health: an Investigation of Mediating Role of Romantic Loneliness

Katarzyna Adamczyk. Curr Psychol. 2017.

Abstract

The present study tested the hypothesis that single young adults who perceive their singlehood as voluntary would report a higher level of positive mental health (i.e., emotional, psychological and social well-being), lower levels of mental health illness (i.e., somatic symptoms, anxiety, social dysfunction, severe depression) and romantic loneliness in comparison to young adults who perceive their singlehood as involuntary. This paper also investigated whether romantic loneliness mediates the relationship between voluntary and involuntary singlehood, positive mental health, and mental health illness. The study sample included 151 participants (86 females and 65 males) aged 20-26 (M = 22.48, SD = 2.01) from Poland. The main findings were that voluntarily single young adults reported a lower level of romantic loneliness compared to involuntarily single young adults. The two groups differed neither in regard to positive mental health nor in regard to mental health problems. In addition, gender differences were observed solely in the domain of romantic loneliness, with women reporting greater romantic loneliness than men. The mediation analysis revealed that romantic loneliness does not mediate the relationship between voluntary and involuntary singlehood, positive mental health, and mental health illness. Voluntary and involuntary singlehood was predictive of somatic symptoms, anxiety and insomnia, severe depression, and romantic loneliness.

Keywords: Involuntary singlehood; Mental health illness; Positive mental health; Romantic loneliness; Voluntary singlehood; Young adults.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest

The author declares that she has no conflict of interest and no founding source to report.

Human and Animal Rights

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

The author adhered to institutional ethical guidelines in the conduct of this study (i.e., Polish Psychological Society were followed in the treatment of participants).

Informed Consent

The purpose of the study was explained to all individual participants included in the study with assurance that all information provided by them would remain anonimous. Then, if they choose to participate, their consent was implicitly understood.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Conceptual Model of Hypothesized Mediation: Voluntary vs. Involuntary as Predictor, and Romantic Loneliness as Mediator of Positive Mental Health and Mental Health Illness
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Aanes MM, Mittelmark MB, Hetland J. Interpersonal stress and poor health: the mediating role of loneliness. European Psychologist. 2010;15(1):3–11. doi: 10.1027/1016-9040/a000003. - DOI
    1. Adamczyk, K. (2015). An investigation of loneliness and perceived social support among single and partnered young adults. Current Psychology. doi:10.1007/s12144-015-9337-7. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Adamczyk K, DiTommaso E. Psychometric properties of the Polish version of the Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults (SELSA-S). Psychological Topics. 2014;23(3):327–341.
    1. Adamczyk, K., & Segrin, C. (2015a). Perceived social support and mental health among single vs. partnered Polish young adults. Current Psychology, 34(1), 82–96. doi:10.1007/s12144-014-9242-5. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Adamczyk, K., & Segrin, C. (2015b). Direct and indirect effects of young adults’ relationship status on life satisfaction through loneliness and perceived social support. Psychologica Belgica, 55(4), 196–211. doi:10.5334/pb.bn. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources