New Singles in America Study Shows Daters are More Serious
Contributed by: kellyseal on Friday, December 10 2021 @ 02:02 pm
Last modified on Friday, December 10 2021 @ 02:36 pm
Match’s latest Singles In America study[*1] found that a majority of daters are looking for maturity and stability in a relationship, a result of people feeling lonely and isolated from the pandemic and longing for deeper connection.
According to the study[*2] , only 11 percent of singles want to date casually, while 62 percent say they seek more meaningful, committed relationships. And 65 percent are eager to find a relationship within the next year, particularly younger singles – 81 percent of Gen Z daters and 76 percent of Millennials.
Match also found that 83 percent of singles said they want a partner who is emotionally mature, and 76 percent said they want a partner who is looking to get married. This is up from 58 percent just two years ago, and interestingly, younger adults and men are most interested in marriage.
In addition, only 78 percent of respondents say that finding someone who is physically attractive is important to them, compared to 90 percent in 2020.
"The current zeitgeist has it all wrong. Looks are out, emotional maturity is in. Stability is the new sexy," says Dr. Helen Fisher, Chief Science Advisor at Match. "Singles have re-evaluated themselves and their plans. They've grown up. Bad boys and girls are passe; today's singles want educated, successful, grounded, open-minded and committed partners -- a reset that may increase family stability for decades to come."
Kinsey Institute executive director Justin Garcia who co-authored the study told Phys.org that he believes the pandemic also changed the way people seek out partners, because one in four used video dating before taking the risk of meeting in person. And more than half of Gen Z daters also said they view video dating as the first step in the dating process.
"I don't think that's a temporary blip; I think it's a sea change," Garcia told the magazine. "We were in this hook-up era for a while, and we documented fairly widespread openness toward casual sex, but I think people are now focusing more on intentional relationship-building in the present and into the future."
The study also assessed attitudes towards vaccines, and found the majority of singles prefer to date only vaccinated people (65 percent), and noted that getting vaccinated is a higher priority for them than the general population. It also found that half of young singles had a video date before meeting in person. And 1 in 4 singles overall had one.
Garcia noted to Phys.org: "The kind of traits we look for in partners during the early stages of courtship include whether they are empathetic, if they seem smart enough, do they care about well-being? Singles are using vaccination status as a window into those other domains."
The annual study surveys 5,000 singles across the country from different backgrounds, ages, education levels, and more as a smaller representation of the general population. For more on the dating service that brought us this study, you can read our Match review.