Riding Solo: The Associations Between Singlehood Self-Expansion Potential, Self-Expansion Experiences, and Singlehood Outcomes

Being single (i.e., not in a romantic relationship) offers people an important opportunity to self-expand and experience the associated well-being benefits. Drawing on self-expansion theory, we investigated the role of singlehood self-expansion potential (SSEP) across three pre-registered studies. In two diary studies (Studies 1 and 2), greater SSEP was associated with concurrent and (to a lesser extent in Study 2) lagged associations with greater self-expanding experiences, singlehood satisfaction, psychological need fulfillment, and life satisfaction, and lower fear of being single. We also examined the self-expanding activities that single people engage in and found that singlehood self-expansion predominately occurs with non-romantic close others (Study 2). Finally, in an experimental study (Study 3), individuals who imagined how singlehood could facilitate future novel (vs. routine) activities did not report greater SSEP but reported greater self-expansion experiences and positive mood. This research highlights the importance of viewing singlehood as having potential for self-expansion.