Socioeconomic Inequality, Perceived Relationship Risk, and the Strategic Meaning of Singlehood

Rates of singlehood are rising globally, but not much existing research talks about how SES inequality may impact single individuals’ decision-making on relationship. Because relationships require an investment of time, money, and emotional labor that may not be reciprocated, individuals who perceived fewer resources in the unequal society are hypothesized to appraise this investment as comparatively higher-stakes, and to strategically reduce their pursuit of relationships as a form of adaptive resource protection. Three studies are proposed to test this model, moving from exploratory to confirmatory. Study 1 uses semi-structured interviews with single adults spanning a range of socioeconomic positions to explore how they narrate the relationship between their economic circumstances and their romantic decisions, grounding the mechanisms tested experimentally. Study 2 manipulates individuals’ perceived relative socioeconomic position to test whether this shifts resource allocation toward romantic pursuit and desire for a relationship. Study 3 directly manipulates perceived relationship risk to test whether increasing perceived relationship risk causally reduces romantic investment, desire for romantic relationships, and increases satisfaction with singlehood. Together, Studies 2 and 3 form an experimental causal chain testing relationship risk as the proposed psychological mechanism. Together, these studies aim to reframe singlehood under SES inequality not as a deficit outcome, but as a psychologically adaptive, risk-sensitive response to structural inequality.