Satisfaction with Singlehood and Sexual Activity

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which Norwegians are satisfied with their singlehood, and to determine the association between being single and sexual activity. Data were obtained from a questionnaire survey of a representative web sample of 1076 unpartnered individuals (568 women, 508 men) aged 18–89 years. A total of 45.2% of the single respondents reported being satisfied with being single, while 33.9% reported being unsatisfied. There was no difference between the age groups in men, but more women aged 45 years or older than women under the age of 45 were satisfied with being single. A higher percentage of gay, bisexual, and transmen than heterosexual men was satisfied with being single. More women who had not been sexually active with a partner in the past year were satisfied with being single than were women who had been sexually active. The men who were most satisfied with being single were those who had masturbated and/or had sexual intercourse, and least satisfied were those with no sexual activity, or exclusively masturbation activity. The results are discussed in terms of biological, psychological, and social positions.

Attachment and Sexuality: Impact of Confinement by COVID-19

“…Perhaps it is because, males have higher levels of socially prescribed sexual perfectionism (the standards people believe they must meet based on cultural norms) than women, and this has shown a negative relationship with sexual self-esteem (Shepler & Perrone, 2016). In general, men are socialized to be more sexual than women and give more importance to the frequency of sex (Traeen & Kvalem, 2022).…”

Singles Not Sexually Satisfied? Prevalence and Predictors of Sexual Satisfaction in Single versus Partnered Adults

“…Given the differences of singles’ sexual realities and expectations, it is reasonable to assume that there may be distinct factors and variations in the relative importance of factors that constitute a satisfying sexual life for single adults. Third, despite the fact that singles represent a very heterogeneous group (Oh et al., 2022 ; Pepping et al., 2018 ), only recent studies have started to consider the importance of singles’ evaluations of their singlehood (e.g., voluntary/involuntary, contentment with being single) when assessing sexual satisfaction (Kislev, 2021 ; Park et al., 2021 ; Træen & Kvalem, 2022 ). As partnered adults’ evaluations of their relationships have been shown to be the most important predictor of sexual satisfaction (Byers & Rehman, 2014 ; Freihart et al., 2020 ; Rausch & Rettenberger, 2021 ), it is surprising that singles’ evaluations of their singlehood have been largely neglected.…”