RURAL LONELYHEARTS

Patrons at the Wabeck bar in Plaza, N.D., wait for an annual singles auction to begin. (Will Kincaid, Associated Press)

Being single has definite advantages.

There are no fights over who controls the TV remote, or arguments over what to have for dinner. Nor are there disputes over whether the toilet seat should remain up or down.

And that's just the scratching the surface.

Research on single people presented Friday at an American Psychological Association convention indicated singles value meaningful work more than married people and are also more connected to their parents, siblings, friends and neighbors.

"When people marry, they become more insular," University of California, Santa Barbara scientist Bella DePaulo said in a press release. "It is time for a more accurate portrayal of single people and single life - one that recognizes the real strengths and resilience of people who are single, and what makes their lives so meaningful."

There are more unmarried people than ever before in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2014, there were 124.6 million unmarried Americans over age 16, meaning 50.2 percent of the nation's adult population identified as single, according to BLS. In contrast, only 37.4 percent of the population was unmarried in 1976.

"Increasing numbers of people are single because they want to be," said De Paulo in the release. "Living single allows them to live their best, most authentic, and most meaningful life."

DePaulo highlighted research that shows single people are more likely to experience "a sense of continued growth and development as a person," than their married counterparts. Another study she cited indicates never-married people feel positive about self-sufficiency, while that trait triggers negative feelings in married individuals.

Married people should be doing a lot better than single people in view of the number of laws that benefit them, DePaulo said, but in many ways, they aren't.

"People who marry get access to more than 1,000 federal benefits and protections, many of them financial," she said. "Considering all of the financial and cultural advantages people get just because they are married, it becomes even more striking that single people are doing as well as they are."