Affiliation:
1. Department of Sociology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
Abstract
Using data from the Dynamics of Social Life During COVID-19 Survey (DSL-COVID), we examine dating and romantic relationship interest among singles amid a global pandemic and loneliness epidemic. This study provides a gendered life course perspective to understanding the heterogeneity of singles’ low romantic interest. We find larger gender differences among the previously married than never married singles. In addition, we document a stronger age gradient for single women than men in low romantic interest. We demonstrate that previously married single men’s romantic interest may be more responsive to loneliness than that of single women. These results suggest that lonely single men express the strongest desires to seek romance, net of controls, while single women express lower romantic interest. Overall, we argue for the possibility that a non-trivial segment of singles may exhibit low romantic interest, and their inclusion is important for social science research on union and family formation.
Funder
Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea
Korean Studies Promotion Service of the Academy of Korean Studies