COMPLETION REPORT
Chee-Seng Tan
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman

Choose to Stay Single? Unravelling The Factors in Japanses and Malaysian Young Adults
While both theories and empirical studies consistently support that having a romantic relationship isbeneficial to human’s well-being, an increasing tendency of staying single has been documented globally, forinstance, the Sampo Generation in Korea, Tangpingism (躺平主义) in China, and the herbivorization
phenomenon in Japan. More importantly, some studies have shown that singlehood can be a personal choice thatbrings benefits such as autonomy, temporal control, enhanced sociability, job advancement, and non-complianceto others’ requests. Furthermore, some researchers have argued the existing findings of (involuntary) singlehood
may not apply to voluntary singlehood. Therefore, investigation of the antecedent factors of the voluntary single
movement is theoretically and practically essential. Guided by the Investment Model of Commitment (IMC)
process, the present study examined the roles of subjective socioeconomic status (SSES), relational mobility, anddesirability of control in attitudes toward singlehood among young adults in Malaysia and Japan, as well as India
with the help of a collaborator.
A total of 1,108 undergraduate students were recruited using convenient sampling from Malaysia(n=444) and Japan (n=316), and India (n=348) to answer an online survey consisting of the Attitudes toward
Singlehood Scale, MacArthur Scale of SSES, Relational Mobility Scale, Desirability of Control Scale, Mini-Social
Phobia Inventory, and Single Item Narcissism Scale. Pearson correlation analysis showed that attitudes toward
singlehood were positively associated with social anxiety and desirability of control, negatively associated withSSES, and had no relationship with narcissism and relational mobility. The planned hierarchical multiple
regression analysis found a positive relationship between desirability of control, but not SSES and relational
mobility, and attitudes toward singlehood, even after statistically controlling the effects of social anxiety andnarcissism. A similar pattern was also observed among those who current singles. Moreover, an interaction effectof SSES and relational mobility was found in further exploratory analyses. Specifically, when the relational
mobility score was low (i.e., 16th percentiles), there was a positive relationship between SSES and attitudes toward
singlehood. Similarly, when the SSES level was low, relational mobility had a positive relationship with attitudes
toward singlehood.
The results highlight the autonomy and flexibility of managing one’s own life and financial concern as
the key reasons young adults prefer staying single to engaging in romantic relationships. It is noteworthy that single
individuals with higher income tend to stay single in social contexts with low possibilities in securing a partner.
This could be due to them already having sufficient resources to support themselves (i.e., the importance of having
a partner is low) and their wish to continue reaping the benefits of singlehood (e.g., freedom and personal space).
On the other hand, single young adults with lower financial status than others would prefer to stay single tominimize financial burden despite having lived in social environment conducive for relationship establishment.
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Publication of the Results of Research Project:
Verbal Presentation (Date, Venue, Name of Conference, Title of Presentation, Presenter, etc.)
1. July 29, 2021, Korea (virtual conference), The 14th biennial Asian Association of Social Psychology 2021,
Why do Malaysian and Japanese youths desire to stay single, Chee-Seng Tan.
2. July 13-15, 2021, Taiwan, 2022 12th Conference for Chinese Psychologists, Singlehood and Well-Being:
The Moderating Role of Attitudes toward Singlehood, Chee-Seng Tan.

Thesis (Name of Journal and its Date, Title and Author of Thesis, etc.)
1. Frontiers in Psychology (November 19, 2021), Antecedents of the attitudes toward singlehood among
young adults in Malaysia, Japan, and India. Chee-Seng Tan, Siew-May Cheng, Tomokazu Nakayama, andSanju George. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.756090
2. Japanese Psychological Research (under revision), Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Propertiesof the Japanese Version of the Attitudes toward Singlehood Scale. Chee-Seng Tan, Siew-May Cheng, andTomokazu Nakayama.
Book (Publisher and Date of the Book, Title and Author of the Book, etc.)-2-