September 20, 2009

By Bella DePaulo, Professor of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara; depaulo@psych.ucsb.edu; 805.565.9582

September 20-26, 2009 is Unmarried and Single Americans Week.

Today almost 45 percent of the American population is unmarried, up from 28 percent in 1970. Nearly 96 million Americans 18 and older are never-married, divorced, or widowed. Yet many Americans still equate unmarried with unhappy, unhealthy, uninvolved in community life, and unencumbered by family obligations. These stereotypes are all false.