with recent reports showing that one in
four young adults will be single their
whole life by the age of 50 you may be
wondering if you will always be Netflix
and chilling by yourself but is there a
scientific reason why you are single the
first thing we may have to blame for our
foreveralone status is our parents and
more specifically the effect they have
on our attachment style psychologists
describe attachment styles as the ways
we interact in our relationships
attachment styles are first built during
infancy and what style you'll end up
with is the result of the parenting you
got as a child if you were consistently
cared for and had strong emotional
support you likely developed a secure
attachment style which means today you
are confident trusting and can
comfortably develop intimacy with others
if you were less consistently cared for
with parental figures who varied between
being overprotective and inattentive
then you may have developed one of two
insecure attachment styles an avoidant
style where you have little desire to
seek other people out or an anxious
ambivalent style where you fear
rejection psychologists have long
posited that single people are more
likely to have an insecure attachment
style while that may be partly true
recent research has shown that single
participants are just as likely as
coupled people to have a secure
attachment style but are more likely to
attach to friends siblings or relatives
over romantic figures in that case you
may be getting fulfilment from other
people and may not require a romantic
figure to satisfy emotional needs
another answer as to why you're flying
solo may lie in your genes specifically
the genes that Express your serotonin
receptors one study of 580 young adults
found that fifty point four percent of
people with a CC genotype on their ht1 a
gene were in a relationship but only 39
percent with a CG or GG genotype or in a
relationship notice the G allele may be
the culprit here having the G allele
means you'll have a lower level of
serotonin in your brain and studies have
found rats and monkeys with lower levels
of serotonin are less sexually receptive
and more aggressive to mates other
studies have also linked this G allele
to Paluxy thymic systems which is
a difficulty in describing an
identifying emotions which may result in
G leaders appearing on a pathetic cold
or hostile but is the married life
really better for you while many studies
have linked being married to having
better health some have pointed out
these studies often exclude divorced
people from their samples one study
found women who got married gained more
weight and drank more than single women
who also ate better and exercised more
another study found single individuals
were more likely to have greater
involvement in the broader community and
were more likely to stay in touch with
family and friends and neighbors let's
hear it for all the single ladies all
the single ladies all the single ladies
then put your hands up it may also be
important not to rush into a
relationship one long-term study of
young adults found that of relationship
can improve your self-esteem but only if
it is well-functioning stable and lasts
for about a year or longer failing this
criteria a low quality relationship
might actually give you a lower
self-esteem and a severe blow to your
emotionality all in all the science says
it's best not to rush into something
unhealthy and that sometimes the single
life is the best way to go thank you so
much - Kim my sister for narrating this
video if you are single she has a video
over on her channel which is about
relationships and how to approach people
in public without necessarily needing to
use dating apps and just to have the
confidence to say hi to someone new you
can click it just right over here also
we're doing our first ever live taping
of our podcast at Just for Laughs
Montreal on July 25th at noon so take a
lunch break and come see us the tickets
and all the information is in the
description hopefully we'll see you
there but we'll also see you next week
for a new science video