A major international study suggests younger adults are rethinking romance, with many now viewing single life as the calmer option.
For years, marriage and long-term partnership were treated as key markers of adulthood. While those paths are still important to plenty of people, expectations around relationships are clearly evolving.
In the US, that shift is visible in the data: the median age at first marriage has continued to rise, and the share of adults who have never been married is higher than it was a generation ago. More young adults are also living with parents for longer, delaying some of the financial and social milestones that once pushed people into marriage and family life.
According to a new survey of 14,380 adults from the US, UK, Latin America, the EU, Australia and South Africa, almost half of people aged 18 to 34 said being single feels “more peaceful” than being in a relationship.
The shift has been labelled ‘Solo Maxxing’. So what is driving more young people to embrace life on their own terms?
Research from MyIQ points to a mix of financial strain, emotional exhaustion and frustration with modern dating. For many respondents, choosing independence was less about avoiding love and more about protecting their wellbeing.
The results indicate that Solo Maxxing is part of a broader rethink around emotional security, personal control and the role intimacy plays in everyday life.
Instead of seeing singlehood as a sign of isolation, more people are beginning to view it as a way of guarding their peace.
Solo Maxxing describes a lifestyle built around getting the most out of life without relying on a romantic relationship.
The phrase borrows from the broader internet habit of “maxxing” — slang for optimizing or maximizing some part of life — and it fits neatly alongside other self-improvement trends that have spread across social media in recent years. In practice, the idea is less about complete withdrawal and more about treating singleness as a deliberate choice rather than a temporary setback.
Its attraction appears to come from having greater freedom, fewer emotional pressures, more financial clarity and a stronger sense of calm. Rather than promoting total withdrawal, it seems to reflect a desire for the kind of stability many feel dating no longer offers.
Sarah Meyer, Managing Director at MyIQ, said the trend reflects a change in how young adults define fulfilment and stability.
“Solo Maxxing is not simply about rejecting relationships,” Meyer said. “It reflects a broader reassessment of emotional cost. Many younger adults are no longer treating relationships as proof of stability. They are asking whether a relationship adds to their sense of safety, focus, and self-understanding, or whether it introduces instability they have worked hard to avoid.”
The findings do not suggest that younger people have given up on connection altogether.
In fact, other recent surveys suggest that many young adults still want marriage someday, even if they are less eager to rush into it. The difference now is that more people seem willing to wait for a relationship that feels emotionally and financially sustainable, rather than settling for one that adds stress.
Instead, many participants said their decision to Solo Maxx was tied more to self-preservation than to a permanent rejection of closeness.
The report argues that Solo Maxxing has emerged where several early-adulthood pressures meet: economic instability, digital burnout, self-improvement culture and less willingness to tolerate emotional turmoil in exchange for partnership.
That context matters. Young adults today are more likely than previous generations to carry student debt, remain in their parents’ homes for longer and delay marriage until their late 20s or early 30s. At the same time, dating has become increasingly shaped by apps, algorithms and the feeling that there is always another option one swipe away.
Meyer added that the trend reflects a change in the way younger adults assess compatibility, not only with partners but with the life structures relationships can create.
“The traditional assumption that fulfilment should centre on romantic partnership is weakening,” Meyer said.
“For many younger adults, emotional peace, autonomy and personal development are becoming measures of adulthood in their own right. The relationship is no longer the default destination.
“It has to prove that it belongs in the life someone is building.”
In that sense, Solo Maxxing may be less of a rejection of romance than a demand for better terms. For a generation that has grown up with financial pressure, constant connectivity and more open-ended paths into adulthood, being single is increasingly being reframed as a valid lifestyle choice — not a placeholder.