Singles Research and Writing | All Things Single (and More)

Singled Out book
Singlism book
Single with Attitude book
Singles-relevant contributions to other books
Media appearances and mentions
Op-ed essays
Scholarly papers
Workshop and lectures
Singles links and resources
Share your stories about single life
Singles-relevant readings and other events

Singled Out: How Singles Are Stereotyped, Stigmatized, and Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After

In Singled Out: How Singles Are Stereotyped, Stigmatized, and Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After(St. Martin’s Press), Dr. Bella DePaulo clearly and compellingly debunks the myths about people who are single, using scientific research, examples drawn from popular culture, and healthy amounts of humor. Immensely readable, Singled Out is also carefully and fairly argued. Singled Out is a spirited and provocative read for all people curious as to why singlism is practiced and how it has gone unrecognized and unchallenged for so long.

Singled Out Highlights
10 Myths about Singles
Singled Out Table of Contents
Author Q & A
Reviews and Discussions in the Washington Post, the Associated Press, Publishers Weekly, Feministing and several dozen others

Order Singled Out In paperback, here.
Kindle version here.

Singlism: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How to Stop It

The widespread stereotyping and discrimination against people who are single has long gone unrecognized, unnamed, and unchallenged. Dr. Bella DePaulo calls it SINGLISM. In this collection, she defines singlism and shows where it is lurking in the workplace, the marketplace, the media, in religion, in pseudoscience, in laws and policies, and in our everyday lives. She provides some insight into why singlism persists at a time when so many other isms are considered shameful.Singlism: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How to Stop It (DoubleDoor Books) also includes contributions from a wide range of authors, experts, activists, cutting-edge thinkers, and ordinary people. They share their stories of standing up to singlism, help us understand singlism from a big-picture perspective, and inspire us all to live our lives fully and joyfully.

The contributors to Singlism are Lisa A., Ph.D., Rev. Mark Almlie, Gina Barreca, Ph.D., Steven Bereznai, Wendy Braitman, Rachel Buddeberg, Christina Campbell, Thomas F. Coleman, J.D., Crimson, Karen Foster, Page Gardner, Rajiv Garg, Jaclyn Geller, Ph.D., Nicky Grist, Jeanine, Rachel F. Moran, J.D., Wendy L. Morris, Ph.D., Yasmin Nair, Ph.D., Monica Pignotti, Ph.D., Psyngle, Rev. Ann Schranz, Singlutionary, Rachel Stone, E. Kay Trimberger, Ph.D., John Ullman, Helen W., Wendy Wasson, Ph.D., and Eleanore Wells.

Order Singlism In paperback, here.
From Amazon, here.
Kindle version here.

Single with Attitude: Not Your Typical Take on Health and Happiness, Love and Money, Marriage and Friendship
From the back cover: Bella DePaulo (PhD, Harvard) has been single all her life. Don’t expect her to get all apologetic about it. She loves living single – well, except for all of the singlism and matrimania. In these 89 essays, she provides her unique take on friends and family, health and happiness, love and money, marriage and maturity, pets and vets, religion and politics. She also explains why so many of the relevant stories in the media are just plain wrong. Many of these essays originally appeared in Living Single, Dr. DePaulo’s popular blog for Psychology Today. Other writings were first published in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Forbes.com, the Huffington Post, and the New York Times. Bella DePaulo’s previous book was the groundbreaking “SINGLED OUT: How Singles Are Stereotyped, Stigmatized, and Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After” (St. Martin’s Press). She has also published extensively on the psychology of lying.
		Order Single with Attitude In paperback here. From Amazon here. Version in Kindle here.

Singles-Relevant Contributions to Other Books

“Single all the way”
By Bella DePaulo
In Single State of the Union: Single Women Speak Out on Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Happiness
Diane Mapes (Ed.)

“Living single: Lightening up those dark, dopey myths”
By Bella DePaulo
In The Dark Side of Close Relationships II
William R. Cupach and Brian H. Spitzberg (Eds.)

Foreward by Bella DePaulo to
I Didn’t Work This Hard Just to Get Married: Successful Black Women Speak Out
By Nika C. Beamon

“The myth of doomed kids” and
“Bella DePaulo on writing,”
In The Bedford Reader (10^th Ed.)
X. J. Kennedy, Dorothy M. Kennedy, and Jane E. Aaron (Eds.)

Media Appearances and Mentions (select list)

Atlantic magazine (cover story)

What, me marry?

All the single ladies

By Kate Bolick

November 2011

The story describes Bella DePaulo as “America’s foremost thinker and writer on the single experience.”

New York Times
One singular sensation
By Gail Collins
December 4, 2008

New York Times

In a married world, singles struggle for attention

By Tara Parker-Pope

September 19, 2011

New York Times

The marrying kind: Born or made?

By Pamela Paul
January 14, 2011

Associated Press
Always single, happy that way
By Leanne Italie
May 26, 2010

New York Times
What are friends for? A longer life
By Tara Parker-Pope
April 21, 2009

New York Times
Rendell on Napolitano’s ‘no life’
By Sarah Wheaton
December 4, 2008

New York Times
A guide to embracing life as a single.
By Andrew Adam Newman
December 31, 2007

New York Times
Just say no to the dating industry.
By Kate Zernike
November 30, 2003

New York Times
Bob, meet Jane. And give me the details.
By Warren St. John
December 22, 2002

The Wall Street Journal
Janet Napolitano and the persistence of ‘singlism’
By Sue Shellenbarger
December 5, 2008

USA Today
Many singles looking for love, but not marriage
By Sharon Jayson
Febuary 1, 2012

USA Today
Free as a bird and loving it.
By Sharon Jayson
April 12, 2007

Washington Post Magazine cover story
The single life
By Ellen McCarthy
Febuary 12, 2012

Washington Post
Developers, tenants move past awe of single living.
By Denise Kersten
February 1, 2003

New Jersey Star-Ledger

Protecting the rights of single people

Editorial page

Interview by Julie O’Connor

October 12, 2011

Columbia News Service
Alone no more, singles fight for their rights.
By Liz Kim
December 12, 2006

The McClatchy Company
The politics of parking an adult at the kids’ table
By Emilie Le Beau
November 18, 2006

Los Angeles Times
Unattached, thank you, and loving it.
By Martin Miller
September 2, 2004

Chicago Tribune

Marriage? Let me think about it.

By Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz

August 16, 2011

5 things we learned from Singled Out.
By Anne E. Stein
December 30, 2007

MSNBC

(Story on singles and longevity)

By Joan Raymond

August 18, 2011

Critique:

Watch out, singles! Once again, you are doomed to early grave by cheater technique

Daily Beast
(online site associated with Newsweek)

Singled Out: Are unmarried people discriminated against?
By Maura Kelly
February 6, 2012

Newsweek
Single and loving it, even during the holidays
By Sarah Elizabeth Richards
December 23, 2009

Time
Are Gay Relationships Different?
By John Cloud
January 28, 2008

Time
Americans still love marriage. But why?
By John Cloud
February 19, 2007

The Nation
The Diana/Whore Complex
By Lakshmi Chaudhry
August 27, 2007

The Week
‘Singlism’: Do only married people have lives?
December 19, 2008

Psychology Today
Salud to singletons
By Carlin Flora
November/December 2008

Psychology Today
Lone stars.
By Jillian Straus
May/June 2006

AARP Magazine
The secret lives of single women.
By Sarah Mahoney
May & June 2006

Business Week
Unmarried America. (cover story)
By Michelle Conlin
October 20, 2003

U. S. News & World Report
50 ways to improve your life.
By Linda Kuhlman
December 27, 2004

Chronicle of Higher Education
Singular mistreatment: Unmarried professors are outsiders in the Ozzie and Harriet world of academe.
By Robin Wilson
April 23, 2004

Air America Radio
The Ron Reagan Show
December 5, 2008

CBC
The New Single
Josey Vogel, “Between You and Me”
July 22, 2008

The Pat Morrison Show. KPCC 89.3, NPR in Southern CA.
“The decline of marriage.” Discussion with Bella DePaulo and Maggie Gallagher.
September 14, 2007

NPR Tell Me More with Michel Martin
Is single life something to lament or celebrate?
February 15, 2012

NPR Justice Talking
September 11, 2006

NPR On Point
August 26, 2005
December 8, 2003

NPR Talk of the Nation
Single Women Take the Lead in America
January 18, 2007

NPR Boston

Seeking Singledom

July 29, 2011

CBS This Morning
Ways it pays to be married, how singles pay more
By Carmen Wong Ulrich
February 14, 2012

CBS Chicago
Are unmarrieds ‘Singled Out’ for discrimination?
By Mike Parker
December 4, 2008

CNN Saturday Night
September 16, 2006

CNN American Morning
Secret prejudice against single people
By John Roberts
December 5, 2008

NEW YORK TIMES Video
Opinion page
Conversation about discrimination against singles
July 29, 2008

Op-Ed Essays

New York Times, “A new American experiment,” February 13, 2012

New York Times, “Sex and the Single Voter,” June 18, 2004

Newsday, “Living Single, Seeing Double,” November 21, 2004

San Francisco Chronicle, “Single Americans Are Hardly Flying Solo,” January 14, 2007 (with Kay Trimberger)

Chronicle of Higher Education, “Make Room for Singles in Teaching and Research,” September 28, 2007 (with Rachel F. Moran and Kay Trimberger)

Forbes, “Yes, there is a single demographic,” December 22, 2008

Scholarly Papers

(Also see the section on Singles-Relevant Contributions to Other Books, above.)

DePaulo, B. M., & Morris, W. L. (2005). Singles in society and in science. Psychological Inquiry, 16, 57-83.

DePaulo, B. M., & Morris, W. L. (2005). Should singles and the scholars who study them make their mark or stay in their place? Psychological Inquiry, 16, 142-149.

Morris, W. L., Sinclair, S., & DePaulo, B. M. (2007). No shelter for singles: The perceived legitimacy of marital status discrimination. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 10, 457-470.

DePaulo, B. M., & Morris, W. L. (2006). The unrecognized stereotyping and discrimination against people who are single. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15, 251-254. (Also available in the book Singlism: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How to Stop It.)

Morris, W. L., DePaulo, B. M., Hertel, J., & Taylor, L. C. (2008). Singlism – another problem that has no name: Prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination against singles. In M. A. Morrison & T. G. Morrison (Eds.), The psychology of modern prejudice (pp. 165-194). New York: Nova Science Publishers.

Schutz, A., Hertel, J., DePaulo, B. M., Morris, W. L., & Stucke, T. S. (2007). She’s single, so what? How are singles perceived compared with people who are in romantic relationships? Zeitschrift fur Familienforschung (Journal of Family Research), 19, 139-158.

Morris, W. L., and DePaulo, B. M. (2009) Singlehood. In H. Reis & S. Sprecher (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Human Relationships. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Casper, W. J., & DePaulo, B. (in press). A new layer to inclusion: Creating singles-friendly work environments. In N. Reilly, A. Gorman, & M. J. Sirgy (Eds.), Handbook on Ethical Dilemmas in the Workplace. New York: Springer.

DePaulo, B. (in press, 2012). Single, no children: Who is your family? In A. Vangelisti (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of Family Communication (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.

Workshop and Lectures

“Issues in working with singles.” One-day workshop presented at the North Carolina Psychological Association, October 7, 2006

I’ve talked about single life and my research on singles to many different groups, including medical and psychiatric professionals, women’s groups, women’s studies departments, newcomers groups, political groups, academics, marketing professionals, university administrators, singles advocacy groups, book clubs, and book festivals. See the EVENTS section of this website for details.

Singles Links and Resources

My Blogs about Singles and Single Life

Blog on this website

Living Single
Huffington Post

Feeds from Enlightened Singles Blogs and Singles Resources

Single with Attitude

Information and/or Advocacy
Alternatives to Marriage Project (AtMP)
Annotated Bibliography on Singles
Fact Sheet about Single Women (with E. Kay Trimberger)
Singles Studies

Sloan Work and Family Research Network: Single Workers
Unmarried America / American Association for Single People

Workplace Fairness: Family Responsibilities Discrimination

Grant Support for Scholarly Research on Singles
The Anthony Marchionne Foundation Small Grants Program

Documentaries about Living Single
Seeking Happily Ever After
Bachelorette, 34

All Sorts of Singles-Relevant Sites
AMUUSE
Beyond Straight and Gay Marriage
Boldly Go Solo
Column One, viewpoint for Unmarried America
E. Kay Trimberger
Femme Fare
First Person Singular
Footloose Femails
In Jaynes World