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Research by Professor Jamila Bookwala focusing on the psychological health of unmarried adults over 40 has appeared in media outlets around the world. The study, published in the new issue of the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, has been featured on ABC News.com, MSN.com, Yahoo.com, U.S. News.com, Forbes.com, Daily News & Analysis in India, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ web site.
Bookwala, associate professor of psychology, and her co-author, Erin Fekete of the University of Miami, analyzed data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States examining responses from more than 1,500 Americans age 40 to 74 who identified themselves as either “married” or “never married.” According to the researchers, the results of their survey reveal that so-called “long-term singles,” who identify themselves as highly self-sufficient in their daily lives, report the same level of overall psychological well-being as those adults in the same age group who chose to get married.
“These people do not seem to be at any disadvantage whether they remained single or got married,” says Bookwala. “This may also serve as one more factor to disprove the old myth that states that there may be ‘something wrong’ with people over 40 who never married.”