Going It Alone: The Single, Unmarried, Unpartnered, Childless Woman Physician

Voluntary and involuntary singlehood: Salience of concepts from four theories

“…VS is more than simply a decision to be married or unmarried. It has a diffuse effect in nonromantic domains such as friendships, leisure, and work/employment (Apostolou & Patsiarika, 2022; Paynter, 2020; Sarkisian & Gerstel, 2016). For example, Brown (2020) reported that approximately 50% of single adults in the U.S. are (1) not seeking a relationship partner, (2) focusing on other life priorities and (3) enjoying their current social circumstances.…”

“…They see that other elements of their lives (education, career, social activism, religion/spirituality, child/pet parenthood) absorb a substantial number of resources (Fitzpatrick et al, 2014; Hertz & Ferguson, 1997; Laurent‐Simpson, 2017). Once they have given their time, energy, and talents to these elements, they would be unable to fulfill an intense partner involvement (e.g., Paynter, 2020). Such individuals do not wish to give partners less than what spouses deserve.…”

“…For example, Eck (2013) reported that some U.S. single men derived substantial satisfaction from their life activities and did not want to lose it. Similarly, Paynter (2020) described unmarried female physicians as being motivated by a calling to help others and making personal choices in response to serving this call.…”

“…Indeed, they can be quite supportive of other peoples' choices to be married, within a viewpoint of “that's fine for them”. Thus, voluntaries' singlehood is not necessarily a movement away from marriage, but rather a movement toward something else to which they have given greater credence (Fitzpatrick et al, 2014; Paynter, 2020). It should also be noted that their desire for marriage can be malleable.…”

“…This approach has the advantage of fitting equally well for voluntaries or involuntaries. More specifically, it can be used to explain how the other domains restrict partnering options (for IS) or how individuals' choices to invest in some domains means that they have less investment in the partnering domain (for VS—e.g., Jones et al, 2012; Ng & Ng, 2004; Paynter, 2020).…”