Who Lives a Good Single Life? From Basic Need Satisfaction to Attachment, Sociosexuality, and Reasons for Being Single

ABSTRACT We examined whether individual differences related to a sense of choice in being single—ranging from broad psychological needs to contextualized relationship motivations—explain variability in single people's well‐being. In a sample of 445 single adults ( M age = 52.91, Msinglehood = 20.43 years) recruited from Qualtrics, we tested whether basic need satisfaction, attachment orientation, sociosexuality, and reasons for being single (low capacity for courtship, freedom, previous constraints, and personal constraints) were associated with well‐being. Results for need satisfaction and attachment replicated in a pooled sample, including 545 younger singles ( M age = 18.87, Msinglehood = 7.87 years) from a university subject pool. Satisfying basic needs was consistently linked to greater life satisfaction, singlehood satisfaction, and fewer depressive symptoms; attachment anxiety predicted more depressive symptoms and lower singlehood satisfaction (the latter in the pooled sample). Sociosexuality did not predict outcomes beyond basic need satisfaction and attachment. Valuing personal freedom predicted higher satisfaction, whereas perceiving constraints from previous relationships predicted greater depressive symptoms. These findings demonstrate that individual differences related to choice at different levels of specificity provide incremental validity: one who generally feels autonomous may still benefit from secure attachment and valuing their singlehood. Findings underscore integrating general and contextualized predictors to understand single people's well‐being.