Singles studies
Annotated Bibilography

Research and Writings on People Who Are Single

Compiled by Bella DePaulo, with contributions from many scholars

Contact Bella DePaulo at the email address depaulo [at] psych.ucsb.edu
to suggest additions or modifications.

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Here are links to other bibliographies in addition to the one compiled here.

A bibliography maintained by the Scholars of Single Women Network includes many historical sources on single women:
http://www.medusanet.ca/singlewomen/resources/bib_main.htm

The Rutgers Centre for Historical Analysis offers this database on singles studies as part of their special research theme from 2003-4, “Gendered Passages in Historical Perspective: Single Women”:

www.scc.rutgers.edu/rcha

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What have we learned from scholarly writings about the lives of people who are single? In this document I have compiled hundreds of relevant references. Yet, the academic study of singles is, in many ways, just beginning. In stark contrast to the scholarship on marriage and family, there are no academic journals dedicated to the study of people who are single, no government funding earmarked for research on singles, no textbooks about singles, and no annual conferences on singles.

I put together the first version of this bibliography in 2003, with the support of the Marchionne Foundation. The Foundation is the only source of funding dedicated to scholarship on people who are single. I have revised and expanded this bibliography for the Singles Studies website in 2007, and expect to continue adding to it for the foreseeable future. This version includes all references sent to me by scholars in response to postings on various listserves.

When I first began to study singles, I searched for scholarship explicitly about people who are single–including people who had always been single as well as divorced and widowed singles. The writings I found are included in this bibliography, and most will be readily identifiable from their titles.

Although the writings pertaining specifically to people who are single are relatively few, there are large bodies of scholarship on relevant topics. For example, there are sophisticated literatures in psychology on topics such as stigma and stereotyping, personal relationships and social support. Included in this bibliography are many such writings that make no explicit reference to people who are single, yet are important to our understanding of singles. I have also included sections on marriage and family, as I believe that scholars of singles need to be familiar with some of the fundamental issues, concepts, and findings from those fields.

The focus of this collection is on singles in contemporary American society, but select references to singles at other times and places are included, too. (There is a more extensive historical bibliography, and lots of other useful resources, at the website of the Scholars of Single Women Network, www.medusanet.ca/singlewomen.)

I am a social psychologist by training, and most of the references I have collected are from psychology and related disciplines such as sociology. I have also included sections on topics such as economic issues, legal issues, and policy and politics. Though less extensive than the references from psychology and sociology, these lists are offered as possible starting points for further study. Please send me contributions so these lists can be expanded. Most of the items in this bibliography are academic, but we also include thoughtful books and articles aimed at the lay reader and cross-over books aimed at both an academic and lay audience.

There are 38 topics covered in this bibliography, and they are organized into 15 categories. The outline is below. Some references appear under more than one topic, but I have not tried to reproduce each reference under all of the topics to which it may be relevant.

For most of the topics, I have written introductory remarks outlining the important questions addressed by the writings, or explaining why I think the topic is relevant to our understanding of singles. The framing is largely my own. Because there is no established discipline devoted to the study of singles, there are no standard ways of conceptualizing the issues. Readers can reorganize the bibliography in ways that may be of particular relevance to their own interests. For example, it would be easy to collect the references relevant to race and ethnicity, or living arrangements, into new sections.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Research and Writings on People Who Are Single:
Outline of 38 Topics Arranged into 15 Sections

Section 1. Singles and Subtypes of Singles