Geoff MacDonald 🇨🇦
@gmacdonalduoft.bsky.social
I research relationships and singlehood, take pictures, and generally try to understand things. Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto.
I have a new Substack post up on why single people (don't) want partnership, and how asking this question can start to integrate sociological and psychological perspectives on singlehood: unromanticprof.substack.com/p/why-do-sin...
Why do single people (not) want partnership?
A Self-Determination Theory model that integrates (parts of) singlehood studies
unromanticprof.substack.com
The first question reporters usually ask me is why more people are single these days. Now we have a handy summary from the best person to answer this question, Elyakim Kislev, with his synopsis of his Oxford Handbook of Singlehood chapter: www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/happ...
Why Singlehood Is Gaining Prominence Globally
The rise of singlehood is not a crisis. It is a social transformation. Here are some major factors that drive this.
psychologytoday.com
One of the best things about singlehood studies is how interdisciplinary it is. In this week's guest post for The Unromantic, Chao-ju Chen and Naomi Cahn talk about signlehood from the perspective of the law. unromanticprof.substack.com/p/what-does-...
What Does the Law Have to Do with Singlism?
Guest post by Chao-ju Chen and Naomi Cahn
unromanticprof.substack.com
What can evolutionary theory tell us about what singlehood is like for men? In a guest post at The Unromantic, Immy Harrison explores this question: unromanticprof.substack.com/p/is-singleh...
Is singlehood different for men?
How evolutionary theory can help explain sex differences in singlehood experiences
unromanticprof.substack.com
What is the state of singlehood across the vast and diverse continent of Asia? This week's guest post at The Unromantic provides an overview. unromanticprof.substack.com/p/one-contin...
One Continent, Two Paths: Is It Time to Rethink Singlehood in Asia?
Guest post by Berliana Hutamasari, Christina Claudia, and Karel Karsten Himawan
unromanticprof.substack.com
Registration for the 5th annual Singles Studies conference has been extended to June 30 and is free of charge. You can join in person or online, register here: www.epay.ed.ac.uk/conferences-... @issa-singlehood.bsky.social
Starting off a series of guest posts on my Substack by contributors to the Oxford Handbook of Singlehood, we have a great piece by Akshita Uppot on the sex lives of single peole: unromanticprof.substack.com/p/what-we-ge...
What We Get Wrong About the Sex Lives of Single People
Beyond hookups and dry spells
unromanticprof.substack.com
I wrote about the philosophy behind the new Oxford Handbook of Singlehood, especially how building an interdisciplinary area of research requires the right culture. unromanticprof.substack.com/p/introducin...
Introducing the Oxford Handbook of Singlehood
A passion project comes to life
unromanticprof.substack.com
@ygirme.bsky.social and I are very happy to announce that the first set of chapters from our new Oxford Handbook of Singlehood are now available: academic.oup.com/edited-volum...
Do higher expectations for romance go hand in hand with less satisfaction in single life? New research in #PSPB explores the link and how those expectations also relate to future relationship outcomes. Read more: https://ow.ly/3OX950YQAAy
Does seeing partnership more negatively make singles happier? New paper by Tayler Wells explores this and more. Thread with the key takeaways.
Single women are happier than single men in the West, but is that true in China? @elainehoan.bsky.social talks about her new paper on singlehood in China in a guest post at The Unromantic. unromanticprof.substack.com/p/the-case-o...
The Case of the Happier Single Woman (in China)
The same gender study you (may) know and love—now with cross-cultural data from China!
unromanticprof.substack.com
Is singlehood good for work-life balance? This one really depends on how you research the question. unromanticprof.substack.com/p/is-singleh...
Is singlehood good for work-life balance?
A case where research methodology is crucial
unromanticprof.substack.com
Akiko Yoshida provides some good theoretical ideas for dealing with rapidly changing singlehood norms. Why aren't they being incorporated? unromanticprof.substack.com/p/japanomie
Japanomie
Singlehood norms are changing fast, can our theory account for that?
unromanticprof.substack.com
Academics and journalists don't share the same goals. What does that mean for an academic operating in media spaces? My thoughts in my latest Substack post. unromanticprof.substack.com/p/whats-it-l...
What's It Like Being Interviewed?
Reflections on dealing with the media
unromanticprof.substack.com
The MacLab makes an appearance on CBC's The National. www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9Xa...
2026 relationship goal: Stay single?
YouTube video by CBC News: The National
youtube.com
I revisited MacLab research on the link between income and well-being in singlehood for my latest Substack post. unromanticprof.substack.com/p/do-people-...
Do People Partner to Save on Rent?
What is the link between income and single people's interest in romantic relationships?
unromanticprof.substack.com
Spending the (Canadian) holiday checking out the art installations at the Beaches in Toronto.
In a recent paper, Bella DePaulo argues we should do singlehood research from a "singles-centred" perspective. In a reply, I argue that, practically speaking, that means ignoring large swaths of the singlehood experience. unromanticprof.substack.com/p/a-singles-...
The effect of life events on personality and well-being is a hot topic. But our new paper on the effects of romantic partnering suggests you need to also consider the effect of NOT experiencing the life event. unromanticprof.substack.com/p/do-boosts-...
Do Boosts in Well-Being from Partnering Last?
The importance of tracking both those who partner and those who stay single longitudinally
unromanticprof.substack.com
MacLab work on sex and singlehood featured in PsyPost. www.psypost.org/one-specific...
One specific form of insecurity is significantly lower among singles who have casual sex
A new study suggests that single adults engaging in casual sex often report higher sexual satisfaction and a stronger sense of their own desirability. The findings challenge the idea that casual encou...
psypost.org
How Confucian values make family a simultaneous support and strain for Chinese singles. My latest Substack post and the MacLab's latest paper. unromanticprof.substack.com/p/for-chines...
For Chinese (All?) Singles, Family Can Be Both Support and Strain
A new MacLab paper on filial piety and singlehood in China
unromanticprof.substack.com
Do online studies advertised as being about singlehood or romantic relationships attract a biased sample? A new MacLab paper first-authored by @elainehoan.bsky.social says no. unromanticprof.substack.com/p/is-a-parti...
Is a Particular Type of Single Person More Likely to Sign up for Singlehood Research?
On the hunt for volunteer bias
unromanticprof.substack.com
An undergraduate project that turned into a publication leads to some reflections on singlehood and sexuality in my latest Substack post. unromanticprof.substack.com/p/what-kind-...
What Kind of Sex are Singles Having?
And who among them is having it?
unromanticprof.substack.com
Thoughts on consensual non-monogamy from a singlehood perspective. unromanticprof.substack.com/p/consensual...
Consensual Non-Monogamy from an Involuntary Singlehood Perspective
Survivorship bias and other issues in CNM research
unromanticprof.substack.com
If descriptive research is supposed to be one cure for the replication crisis, why do reviewers and editors keep downgrading descriptive research for not advancing theory? I explore this (in the context of sex and singlehood) in my latest Substack post. unromanticprof.substack.com/p/on-the-val...
On the Value of Just Observing
What descriptive research revealed about singles' sexual satisfaction
unromanticprof.substack.com
It's become an academic trope to "challenge the narrative that...". But how do we know the narrative being challenged is really a thing? I go down this road in my latest Substack post. unromanticprof.substack.com/p/on-sith-bu...
