Study shows singleness can be determined by intelligence

According to science, love is not only blind, but it can also be stupid.

A jaw-dropping study from the University of Zurich in Switzerland shows that people with higher levels of intelligence are more likely to stay single for longer.

“Our findings suggest that both sociodemographic factors (such as education) and psychological characteristics (such as current happiness) help predict who will enter a romantic relationship and who will not,” co-lead author Michael Kramer said of the study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

This comes amid a nationwide decline in relationships. According to The Economist, the proportion of Americans aged 25 to 34 living without a spouse or partner has doubled over the past 50 years to 50% of men and 41% of women.

To determine what factors might increase the risk of flying alone for long periods of time, researchers recruited more than 17,000 people from the UK and Germany.

They selected 16-year-olds with no previous relationship experience and then surveyed them until they were 29, asking them questions to capture their characteristics and demographic factors.

They found some surprising risk factors for being single for long periods of time, including being a young man with “lower happiness, better education, and living alone or with parents.”

Meanwhile, research from the University of Zurich suggests that living with friends or roommates may increase your chances of finding a romantic partner, the Daily Mail reports.

The authors didn’t reveal why smart people are more likely to fly solo, but it contrasts with a previous study from 2018 that found that the smarter a person is, the more likely they are to get married and stay married.

In the next experiment, the team explored how life satisfaction, loneliness, and depression developed among participants who were never married versus those who were in a relationship.

They found that people who were single longer experienced decreased life satisfaction and increased feelings of loneliness.

“After the 20s, the lack of happiness becomes more pronounced,” while rates of depression also rise, the researchers said. They note that the phenomenon appears to affect both men and women equally.

However, young people’s happiness improved significantly after entering their first relationship.

Dr. Kramer concluded from this: “Remaining single for long periods of time in young adulthood poses moderate risks to health.”

Generally speaking, the negative effects are more pronounced the longer you’ve been single, with research showing that it becomes more difficult for singles to enter their first relationship and that it becomes even more difficult to remain single into their 20s.