Single stereotypes have been identified for several decades since Duberman (1975) and Stain (1976) found that people viewed singles as less desirable and less natural than people who are married. Since then, the population of singles in the U.S. has increased dramatically (U.S. Census Bureau, 1970-2002). In 1970, single adults comprised about 28% of the adult population; however in 2014, according to the dataset of America's Families and Living Arrangements, the percentage of single adults among the general adult population had increased to 38%. As the population of singles has become larger, one might expect that certain stereotypes towards singles might have changed from the 1970s. However, a recent study (Hertel et al., 2007) indicated that …show more content…
The main reason seems to be American culture’s overemphasis on marriage. American culture maintains the ideology that marriage is the most important social relationship (Day, Kay, Holmes, & Napier, 2011). In the U.S., at least 90 percent of adults have been married at some point in their life (Connidis, 2001). The majority of people assume that married people are happier, less lonely, and more mature (Morris, DePaulo, Hertel, & Ritter, 2004).
Such a marriage-emphasizing tradition is also prevalent in collectivist cultures. In China, marriage is also important for most people (Higgins, Zheng, Liu, & Sun, 2002). One of the most important standards of personal success is a perfect marriage. There is a very famous traditional idiom called “cheng jia li ye” which means that people need to focus on their career only after they get married. Japan also has a similar marriage culture, Japanese women are raised to be a good wife and sacrifice their own personal goals for the family’s good (Bardsley, 2004). Thus people who still remain single after a certain age might be labelled with multiple negative stereotypes (e.g., risky, irresponsible, undesirable, immature, incomplete) that influence people’s perceptions of single