A new 13-year study suggests that being in a relationship is not automatically better than being single. Researchers found that people in low-quality or conflict-heavy relationships often had worse emotional well-being than when they were single, while strong relationships were linked to higher life satisfaction, more positive emotions, and greater security.
The study was led by Prof. Eliakim Kislev of the Hebrew University and Dr. Menelaos Apostolou of the University of Nicosia in Cyprus. It was published in the 2026 edition of the journal Personality and Individual Differences and is based on Germany’s Pairfam longitudinal project, which tracked more than 12,000 people from a nationally representative sample starting in 2008. Participants came from three birth cohorts, 1971 to 1973, 1981 to 1983, and 1991 to 1993, and were followed as they moved through their 20s, 30s and 40s.
Kislev said the study is unusual because it follows the same participants over years as their relationship status changes. He said the key finding is that relationship quality, not relationship status alone, determines emotional health. In his words, if a relationship is “poor or even just mediocre,” life satisfaction and positive emotions are significantly lower than if a person had stayed single.
The findings showed some gender differences. Single men reported more negative emotions than single women, though the gap was small, while single women reported lower feelings of security than single men. The researchers did not break relationship quality into separate parts such as communication, intimacy, support or sexuality, so they could only assess overall satisfaction.
Kislev warned that romantic compromise can carry a mental cost and that fear of being alone can push people into unsuitable relationships or keep them in harmful ones. He said the message for young people is not to choose a partner just to avoid loneliness, but to look for a relationship that is truly supportive and secure.
