Majority of single men blame relationship status on ‘poor looks’, study claims

Poor looks, low levels of self-esteem and lack of effort are the main reasons to blame for singledom by men, a new study has claimed.

Being single can be extremely beneficial for one’s wellbeing, with research stating that it can improve your social life and even boost your fitness levels.

However, while that may be the case, many understandably long to fall in love and nurture fulfilling relationships.

A recent study has explored the reasons why men, or more specifically male Reddit users, believe they’ve found themselves in the throes of single life.

While the answer might simply be that the object of their affection is just not into them, their relationship status could also be linked to their physical attractiveness and substandard flirting skills.

Menelaos Apostolou, assistant professor for the School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law at the University of Nicosia in Cyprus, decided to examine why men stay single by posing the question on Reddit.

Apostolou shared a question on the social media platform, which asked: “Guys, why are you single?”

The question received 20,207 responses, with several thousand of the comments noted as being responses to other people’s answers.

The researchers then analysed 13,429 of the primary responses, before coding 6,794 of the responses and classifying them in 43 categories in a study published in journal Evolutionary Psychological Science.

The most frequent reason for being single among the Reddit users was “poor looks”, with 662 individuals electing that as their response.

Low self-esteem or confidence came in second, with low effort and lack of interest in relationships coming in third and fourth respectively.

In fifth place was poor flirting skills, with one person writing: “Any semblance of social skills I have go out the window if I have a crush on you.”

Apostolou explained that modern men may have difficulties making the first move due to the way in which romantic relationships have evolved over the centuries.

“Single modern men often lack flirting skills because in an ancestral pre-industrial context, the selection pressures on mechanisms which regulated mating effort and choosiness were weak,” he said.

“Such skills are needed today, because in post-industrial societies mate choice is not regulated or forced, but people have to instead find mates on their own.”

Here are the top 10 reasons why men stay single, according to the study:

Other reasons also included enjoying single life, financial insecurity and fear of commitment.