Komlenac Priv-Doz. Nikola, Mair Carmen, Hochleitner Prof. Margarethe

(73) STEREOTYPES ABOUT SINGLES: IS PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF ANOTHER PERSON’S LIFE- SATISFACTION AND SELF-SATISFACTION DEPENDENT ON THE OTHER PERSON’S RELATIONSHIP STATUS?

  • Urology
  • Reproductive Medicine
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  • Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
  • Psychiatry and Mental health
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Abstract Objectives The belief that everyone has a strong desire to be involved in a committed relationship can lead to stereotyping of singles (i.e., singlism). One stereotype is the characterization of single people as being unsatisfied with life. The current study explored whether people judge another person’s life-satisfaction and self-satisfaction differently, based on the information about the other person’s relationship status. Methods An online cross-sectional study with an experimental design was conducted among 642 persons (Mage = 39.2, SD = 13.1; 64.3% women, 35.7% men) in German-speaking countries. Each participant read one vignette, either describing a woman or a men, being either single (single), in an uncommitted relationship (uncommitted) or in a committed relationship (committed). Validated questionnaires for the assessment of life-satisfaction and self-satisfaction were modified so that participants could indicate how they perceived the character. Three informative hypotheses (H1: single=uncommitted=committed; H2: single<uncommitted<committed; H3: single<uncommitted=committed) were compared with Bayesian ANCOVA. Results Data did not support the hypotheses that single people, people in uncommitted relationships, and people in committed relationships were perceived to have similar life-satisfaction or self-satisfaction (H1). Support for H2 was found when people judged the male character’s life-satisfaction or self-satisfaction with social relationships. When participants judged the female character’s life satisfaction or self-satisfaction with social relationships H3 was supported strongest by the data. When participants judged the character’s self-satisfaction in regards to sexuality none of the hypotheses was supported. Conclusions Participants perceived lowest levels of self-satisfaction and life-satisfaction in single people. Thus, singlism seem to prevailing in the German-speaking sample, but differ for women and men. Whereas men who are in an uncommitted relationship were perceived less favorably than men who were in a committed relationship, such a difference in the perception of women in uncommitted and committed relationships was not found. Conflicts of Interest The study is funded by the Region of the Tyrol.

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