Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-qs9v7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-08T15:37:21.011Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Singlehood: Transitions within a Gendered World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2010

Lorraine Davies
Lorraine Davies*
Affiliation:
University of Western Ontario
*
Requests for offprints should be sent to: / Les demandes de tirés-à-part doivent être adressées à : Lorraine Davies, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5C2, Tel.: (519) 661–2111, ext. 85137, Fax: (519) 661–3200. ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study draws on the life histories of heterosexual childless individuals who have never married, to explore the more subtle ways that age norms affect the subjective experience of singlehood. Specifically, it examines whether or not it is appropriate to speak of transitions in the experience of singlehood. The data clearly reveal the experience of a transition to singlehood. This transition is represented by a change in self-attributed status that occurs over time and is associated with a cultural timetable for marriage. It marks the experience of “becoming single” that occurs when an individual identifies more with singlehood than with marriage. Moreover, I explore the ways in which singlehood is a gendered experience. The results from this study affirm the applicability of life course theory to the lives of single persons and serve to broaden the definition of the concept “transition” to include those not obviously marked by normative events.

Résumé

Dans cette étude, nous nous sommes intéressé au cycle de vie des hétérosexuels sans enfants qui ne se sont jamais mariés pour découvrir les façons subtiles dont les normes liées à l'âge influent sur l'expérience subjective de l'état de célibataire. Plus précisément, nous nous sommes demandé si l'on pouvait parler de transitions à l'état de célibataire. Les données recueillies démontrent clairement que tel est le cas. La perception que l'individu a de son statut change avec le temps ; elle est liée aux normes socioculturelles qui régissent le mariage. L'individu se « transforme en célibataire » lorsqu'il s'identifie davantage au célibat qu'au mariage. Nous avons aussi cherché à savoir en quoi l'état de célibataire était une expérience sexuée. Les conclusions de notre étude confirment que la théorie du parcours de vie s'applique bien à la trajectoire individuelle des célibataires, et permettent d'élargir la définition du concept de « transition » pour inclure ceux qui ne semblent pas, à priori, marqués par les événements normatifs.

Keywords

never-marriedsinglehoodtransitionsgenderagingjamais marié(e)sétat de célibatairetransitionssexe, vieillissement
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , Winter/Hiver 2003 , pp. 343 - 352
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*I would like to acknowledge the helpful comments of Ingrid Connidis, Julie Ann McMullin, Danièle Bélanger, and Clint Wilson on previous drafts of this article and the excellent research assistance of Patricia Jane Carrier. I am grateful to Ellen Gee, who was particularly supportive of this work. The article was supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. A previous version was presented at the Canadian Gerontological Association.

References

Allen, K.R. (1994). Feminist reflections on lifelong single women. In Sollie, D.L. & Leslie, L.A. (Eds.), Gender, families, and close relationships: Feminist research journeys. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Allen, K.R., & Pickett, R.S. (1987). Forgotten streams in the family life course: Utilization of qualitative retrospective interviews in the analysis of lifelong single women's family careers. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 49, 517–526.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrett, A.E. (1999). Social support and life satisfaction among the never-married: The effects of age. Research on Aging, 21, 46–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beaujot, R. (2000). Earning and caring in Canadian families. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press.Google Scholar
Bélanger, D. (in press). Single and childless women of Vietnam: Contesting and negotiating female identity? In Rydstrom, H. & Drummond, L. (Eds.), Constructions of femaleness and maleness in Vietnam. Singapore: National University of Singapore Press.Google Scholar
Bélanger, D., & Hong, K.T. (2002). Too late to marry: Failure, fate or fortune? Female singlehood in rural North Vietnam. In Werner, J. & Bélanger, D. (Eds.), Gender, household and state: Doi Moi in Viet Nam (pp. 89–110). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Bernard, J. (1982). The future of marriage. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Bertaux, D. (1981). From the life-history approach to the transformation of sociological practice. In Bertaux, D. (Ed.), Biography and society: The life history approach in the social sciences (pp. 151–168). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Connidis, I. (2001). Family ties and aging. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Davies, L. (1995). A closer look at gender and distress among the never married. Women and Health, 23(2), 13–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dykstra, P.A. (1995). Loneliness among the never and formerly married: The importance of supportive friendships and a desire for independence Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 50B, S321–S329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elder, G.H. Jr., & O'Rand, A.M. (1995). Adult lives in a changing society. In Cook, K.S., Fine, G.A., & House, J.S. (Eds.), Sociological perspectives on social psychology (pp. 452–475). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.Google Scholar
Fry, C.L. (2003). The life course as a cultural construct. In Settersten, R.A. Jr. (Ed.), Invitation to the life course: Toward a new understanding of later life (pp. 269–294). New York: Baywood Publishing.Google Scholar
George, L. (2003). What life course perspectives offer the study of aging and health. In Settersten, R.A. Jr. (Ed.), Invitation to the life course: Toward a new understanding of later life (pp. 161–190). New York: Baywood Publishing.Google Scholar
Gordon, T. (1994). Single women: On the margins? New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Gove, W.R. (1973). Sex, Marital status and mortality. American Journal of Sociology, 79, 45–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hagestad, G.O. (1990). Social perspectives on the life course. In Binstock, R.H. & George, L.K. (Eds.), Handbook of aging and the social sciences (3rd ed., pp. 151–168). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Hagestad, G.O. (1997). Trends and dilemmas in life-course research: An international perspective. In Heinz, W.R. (Ed.), Theoretical advances in life course research: Status passages and the life course, Vol. 1 (2nd ed., pp. 21–48). Weinheim, Germany: Deutscher Studien Verlag Weinheim.Google Scholar
Keith, P.M. (1989). The unmarried in late life. New York: Praeger Publishers.Google Scholar
Luborsky, M.R., & Rubinstein, R.L. (1995). Sampling in qualitative research: Rationale, issues and methods. Research on Aging, 17, 89–113.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Macklin, E.D. (1987). Nontraditional family forms. In Sussman, M.B. & Steinmetz, S.X. (Eds.), Handbook of marriage and the family (pp. 317–353). New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marks, N.F. (1996). Flying solo at midlife: Gender, marital status, and psychological well-being. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 58, 917–932.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matthews, R., & Martin Matthews, A.M. (1986). Infertility and involuntary childlessness: The transition to non-parenthood. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 48, 641–649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nakosteen, R.A., & Zimmer, M.A. (1997). Men, money and marriage: Are high earners more prone than low earners to marry? Social Science Quarterly, 78, 66–82.Google Scholar
Neugarten, B.L., & Hagestad, G.O. (1976). Age and the life course. In Binstock, R. & Shanas, E. (Eds.), Handbook of aging and the social sciences (pp. 35–55). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.Google Scholar
Peterson, N.L. (1982). The ever-single woman: Life without marriage. New York: Quill.Google Scholar
Seccombe, K., & Ishii-Kuntz, M. (1994). Gender and social relationships among the never-married. Sex Roles, 30, 585–603.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Settersten, R.A. Jr., & Hagestad, G.O. (1996). What's the latest? Cultural age deadlines for family transitions. The Gerontologist, 36, 178–188.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Settersten, R.A. Jr., & Mayer, K.U. (1997). The measurement of age, age structuring and the life course. Annual Review of Sociology, 23, 233–261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shanahan, M.J. (2000). Pathways to adulthood in changing societies: Variability and mechanisms in life course perspective. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 667–692.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shostak, A.B. (1987). Singlehood. In Sussman, M.B. & Stein, S.K. (Eds.), Handbook of marriage and the family (pp. 355–367). New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simon, B.L. (1987). Never-married women. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Spreitzer, E., & Riley, L. (1974). Factors associated with singlehood. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 36, 533–542.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Statistics Canada. (1997). Report on the demographic situation in Canada 1996: Current demographic analysis (Catalogue no. 91-209-XPE). Ottawa: Author.Google Scholar
Stein, P.J. (1981). Understanding single adulthood. In Stein, P.J. (Ed.), Single life: Unmarried adults in social context (pp. 9–20). New York: St. Martin's Press.Google Scholar
Waehler, C.A. 1996. Bachelors: The psychology of men who haven't married. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.Google Scholar