Einer griechischen Studie zufolge ist die Schwierigkeit, Beziehungen aufrechtzuerhalten, einer der Hauptgründe für das moderne Single-Dasein. Bei Männern ist die Wahrscheinlichkeit, Single zu sein, umso höher, je größer die Schwierigkeiten bei der Aufrechterhaltung von Beziehungen sind, während bei Frauen der Effekt stark, aber nicht linear ist.

I’ve linked to the news release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14747049251377388

From the linked article:

**Difficulty maintaining relationships is a major driver of modern singlehood, study suggests**

People who report greater difficulties maintaining intimate relationships are more likely to be single, especially between relationships or voluntarily single, according to a new study published in Evolutionary Psychology.

A growing number of adults are living without intimate partners, prompting researchers to explore why singlehood is becoming increasingly common. While prior work has examined barriers to attracting a partner, less is known about the challenges people face after a relationship begins.

Analyses revealed clear patterns linking higher levels of relationship-maintenance difficulty to greater odds of being single. For women, the association followed an inverted U-shape: as perceived difficulties increased from low to moderate levels, the likelihood of being between relationships, voluntarily single, or involuntarily single sharply increased. However, this effect reached a plateau or weakened at the highest difficulty levels.

For example, the probability of being between relationships peaked when women scored approximately 3.16 on the five-point scale. Similar patterns were observed for voluntary singlehood (peaking at 2.88) and involuntary singlehood (peaking at 2.83). This indicates that while relationship-maintenance challenges predict singlehood for women, those with moderate difficulties are often at the highest risk of being single, whereas further increases in difficulty have a diminishing impact on their relationship status.

For men, the association was strictly linear. Each one-unit increase in perceived difficulty was linked to a 2.36-fold increase in the likelihood of being between relationships and a roughly 1.8-fold increase in the likelihood of being voluntarily single. Unlike women, men showed no significant association between relationship-maintenance difficulties and involuntary singlehood, suggesting that for men, “maintenance” issues primarily lead to breakups or a choice to remain alone, rather than an inability to find a partner at all.

**Overall, the findings suggest that for men, the greater the difficulty in maintaining relationships, the more consistently likely they are to be single, while for women the effect is strong but nonlinear.**

Every year in my Interperseronal Communication class I teach relational maintenance strategies. And every year I have students telling me how amazing they work for keeping their relationships strong, and how they never realized how much they didn’t pay attention to small things that go a long way.

These are skills we really, really need to teach more broadly.

I collect postcards when I travel. They’re cheap, easy to transport, and fun treasures from where I’ve been. When I am done appreciating them I send them to friends. That’s it, a postcard. You would not believe how much people appreciate them and how it has made it so easy to maintain great friendships from across the country. Usually $1 including postage — it’s worth it folks.

People who are bad at not being single are usually single.

Good, just need to update my tinder profile.

People that can’t maintain relationships can’t maintain relationships.