Millennials are "single, not sorry," and they're making the choice to live life solo intentionally, according to a new survey from the dating app Tinder.

In a survey of more than 1,000 single people ages 18-25, Tinder found 72 percent of the surveyed young Millennials "have made a conscious decision" to stay single for a period of time.

According to Darcy Sterling, a licensed clinical social worker and Tinder's "relationship expert," this trend for Millennials is a "paradigm shift."

"Historically, people blindly set out to cross off items on their young-adult-to-do list: Go to school. Work hard. Find a partner. Get married. Have children. Encourage your children to do the same. Rinse and repeat," she wrote in an email to USA TODAY. "Millennials are questioning norms and societal problems."

The survey, asking about young people's views on dating and being single, also found that 81 percent of young people see being single as beneficial in ways beyond just their love lives.

Millennials invest more time in careers, social lives and personal time when single, Sterling said. "We don’t want a world where people’s self-worth is contingent on their relationship status."

As a result, these single Millennials find their time with others more enjoyable. More than half said other young single people were more open to new experiences and that they view themselves as more fun due to their single status, the survey found.

"What’s most telling is that young Millennials are savoring this time in their lives more than any other generation, recognizing how valuable it is for them," Jenny Campbell, Tinder's chief marketing officer, wrote in an email to USA TODAY.

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For many young women, single can mean feelings of independence and empowerment, the survey found. Sterling sees this as a positive for society and how young women value their personal lives and careers without making sacrifices due to their love lives.

According to Pew Research's definition, Millennials are those born between 1981 and 1996 (ages 22-37 in 2018).

Tinder's survey comes on the heels of another recent study about Millennials "killing" divorce that made headlines.

University of Maryland professor Philip Cohen found that from 2008 to 2016, the U.S. divorce rate dropped by 18 percent, due to younger people staying together.

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Millennials often get married at an older age, and therefore wait to wed once they're more highly educated and have more stable careers, Cohen suggests in the paper, dropping the divorce rate.

According to Tinder's survey, 40 percent of young Millennials said they weren't willing to settle for the wrong person to find a long-term relationship. And half were worried about being in a long-term relationship, many due to a fear of a loss of independence.

"Millennials openly admit to feeling uneasy about the idea of being in a long-term relationship," Sterling said. "Waiting longer to marry increases the odds that individuals will be more mature, have better self-esteem, and be more prepared for the enormous compromises that successful marriage requires."

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