Why people are single: The big five as predictors of involuntary singlehood

Not having an intimate partner constitutes a common state in contemporary societies, and the current study aimed to examine the relationship between personality, marital status and the length of singlehood. More specifically, we hypothesized that extraversion would be a significant predictor of singlehood. Consistent with this hypothesis, using a sample of 1418 Greek-speaking participants, we found that lower scores in extraversion were associated with higher probability to be involuntarily single than in an intimate relationship, and with more prolonged spells of singlehood. Furthermore, higher scores in openness were associated with higher probability to be voluntarily single than in an intimate relationship, and with more prolonged spells of singlehood.