Bella DePaulo

Would you go to a play by yourself? Theaters are hoping so As solo leisure booms globally, theater operator ATG Entertainment is launching "Solo Seats" events to destigmatize going to the theater alone.

Thanks @npr.org for this excellent piece and for including me in the interview and mentioning my Single at Heart book in the story.
www.npr.org/2026/03/04/n...

Celebrating Those Who Are Happily Single - Last First Date There are many people who are happily single. Singles can get a bad rap. We celebrate the single lifestyle in this episode!

I love that a radio show called “Last First Date” dedicated an episode to celebrating those who are happily single
lastfirstdate.com/celebrating-...

Justifying the Presumed Superiority of Romantic Couples, or Challenging It? My beef with research purporting to reveal the personal deficiencies of single people

The presumed superiority of romantic couples: examples of challenging it vs justifying it in the emerging field of Singlehood Studies
belladepaulo.medium.com/justifying-t...

Are Romantic Couples Really the Winners? Studies purporting to show that single people are deficient often fail to acknowledge systems of inequality that advantage couples and disadvantage singles.

When you read about a study supposedly showing that single people are inferior to coupled people, remember these 2 boxes. The single person is in the box on the left.
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/livi...

Thank you, @ccfamilies.bsky.social !

Here’s a clip from the Good Sex Project podcast. Full interview coming soon. In case the link doesn’t work, the transcript is included in the image.
riverside.com/guest-page?s...

YouTube video by SIDMedia Thriving in Singleness

Valentine’s Day treat: talking about Single at Heart with a wonderful host on a radio show in South Africa
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcJ2...

an increasing number of people are finding happiness flying solo. A myth-busting antidote to Valentine’s madness”

What to read this week: Bonded by Evolution by Paul Eastwick We are told we need cynical strategies to "play" the dating game, but the science says this is totally wrong. David Robson enjoys an evidence-based takedown from psychologist Paul Eastwick

TY @newscientist.com & @davidarobson.bsky.social for recommending SINGLE AT HEART: “Society has put enormous pressure on us to couple up, but, as social psychologist DePaolo shows...
www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...

Can you get the same benefits from friendship as romantic relationships? Love doesn’t have to be romantic to improve your life. Research shows that friendships, especially high-quality ones, are key for health and well-being.

Friendship gets some love on Valentine’s Day – and so does “Single at Heart”
www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/202...

YouTube video by WFAA GOOD MORNING TEXAS Inside the pages of 'Single At Heart' and how to embrace the single life

Good Morning Texas wanted to hear about #SingleAtHeart
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSKA...

Austin Church to Host 50th Anniversary of National Christian Singles Seminar - Vinegar Hill Magazine by Katrina L. Spencer Katrina Spencer began writing for Vinegar Hill Magazine in 2022 when she lived in Charlottesville. She left Virginia to pursue a master’s degree in journalism and […]

Interesting that this seminar for Christian singles has been ongoing for 50 years and it is NOT about trying to get the single people to marry.
vinegarhillmagazine.com/austin-churc...

That's great!

Is It Just Us? Or Are the Single Cat Ladies Happier? As more single women proudly embrace their lifestyles, we’re reexamining the relevance of the age-old insult once used against them.

Revenge of the single cat ladies! Good to see Kimberly Martinez Phillips quoted
www.cosmopolitan.com/relationship...

‘I have no one to please but myself’: Why more and more women are choosing to stay single These days, it’s increasingly common for women to be single by choice. Why, then, does society still view us as desperate?

A professor once tried to insult me by saying that the work I do is the sort of thing that would appear in Cosmo. It is! And I’m proud of that. #SingleAtHeart
www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/love-sex/...

Today is publication day for the paperback version of “Single at Heart.”
www.amazon.com/Single-Heart...

The Power, Freedom, and Heart-Filling Joy of Single Life Drawing from personal stories and social science research, Single at Heart boldly defies the notion that single life is just something people settle for and show the joys that come with a single life.

Dropping in on an NBC morning show in Milwaukee to talk about “Single at Heart.” Paperback release is Feb 3.
www.tmj4.com/shows/the-mo...

“Single at Heart” and I were on this morning show in Chicago earlier today. Enjoy!
www.fox32chicago.com/video/fmc-xq...

their valuing of freedom and autonomy, solitude as well as companionship, meaningfulness in work, and caring and connecting. I will discuss how deficit narratives of single life have been perpetuated and how a singles‐centered approach can have positive implications beyond the academy.

the possibilities it affords. A singles‐centered discipline recognizes that the people in the lives of single people are not mere substitutes for a romantic partner, and that fulfillment for single people does not just come from the people in their lives. It can also grow out of

and transcends deficit narratives by surfacing the strengths and contributions of people who are single. It problematizes conventional understandings of what single means—for example, that it is just temporary and it is defined by what is missing (a romantic partner) and not by

the emerging discipline of single-hood studies is international, interdisciplinary, and intersectional. It advances theory, research, research methods, and critical thinking. Importantly, it centers the experiences of single people; recognizes and resists systems of inequality;

In the 21st century, for the first time, substantial numbers of academics are identifying as scholars of singlehood, and research is proliferating. Following established disciplines such as women's studies and Black studies,

The Emerging Field of Singlehood Studies: Centering Single People and Surfacing Systems of Inequality In the 21st century, for the first time, substantial numbers of academics are identifying as scholars of singlehood, and research is proliferating. Following established disciplines such as women's s....

Behold, singlehood studies! It is finally happening. Still nothing like the behemoth that is the study of marriage, but it’s a start. My article is behind a paywall, so I will copy the abstract below.
dx.doi.org/10.1111/soc4...

yes, great point!

Home - Bella DePaulo Explore the world of Bella DePaulo, PhD - the leading voice on single life, TEDx speaker, and author. Discover the single experience.

Here’s the photo gallery; click the link and check out the 2nd row.
belladepaulo.com#gallery

One of the joys of publishing “Single at Heart” has been all the photos people send me. This latest is one of my favorites. (It is from Carla; photo credit to Andy Holloway.) To see some of the others, check out the link to the photo gallery below.

You are cited not just once, but twice! Thanks for your important work.

Lessons I’ve learned from decades of studying singlehood Studying single people, a devalued group, comes with a special mission. It is not enough to learn more about them. More fundamentally, an entrenched deficit narrative about their lives needs to be ...

Lessons from decades of studying singlehood, just published in Journal of Gender Studies.
Key lesson: don't fall for the mindless bias of judging single people by the interests & values of couples
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/B5CHE...

It is in Scotland, but you can also present remotely.