A happy couple having a fun time dating

Study: Why Dating Is Harder now Than Ever Before

Research

Are you single and ready to mingle?  You’re definitely not alone there.  As it turns out, a record number of Americans reported themselves as single in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.  While there are plenty of people who choose to be single, there are many more people who are struggling to find the right person and are left to ask themselves why they are still single.  To find an answer, we surveyed over 1,300 adults and asked them a series of questions, including whether or not they chose to remain single, whether they felt past relationships held them back in forging new ones, and why they thought they were still alone.  According to the results of the survey, the answers might be found internally more than externally.

Guy watching porn on his laptop

Study: Analyzing Pornography Consumption Over Time

Research

Few staples of popular culture have had such a long-lasting effect on society (and been as controversial) as pornography.  Increases in both the speed and the availability of internet service have only amplified pornography’s influence on modern society.  Aside from the ethical questions posed by pornography, many researchers believe there to be a negative, enduring effect on relationships in general.  Due to the aforementioned increase in the availability of internet service, people (especially men) are being exposed to pornography at an increasingly younger age than in the past.  This further exacerbates the effect that pornography has on individuals, so we set out to quantify the effect that it has on relationships.  We surveyed over 1,200 men and women and asked them a series of questions, including when they first viewed porn, how their preferences have changed over time, and which types of pornography they considered to be the most extreme.  We then asked them questions about their sex lives to determine how much of an influence pornography has over that area and, therefore, relationships as a whole.

A diverse group of people looking up

Study: Similarities and Differences in Beliefs and Behaviors Across Party Lines

Research

It seems like everywhere we go, we are followed by the specter of political division.  Outside of maybe religion, there is no topic more divisive and polarizing than each person’s political identity.  We can’t turn on the TV or our social media feeds without being inundated with news and opinions that are grounded in politics.  This constant exposure to information and opinions, combined with the increased division between Republicans and Democrats, has amplified a tense atmosphere that has led this current era to be one of the most divisive and (more importantly) stressful in the history of this nation.  We surveyed over 1,000 people from all sides of the political spectrum to find how they defined themselves on a wide range of topics, including: religion, parenting styles, relationships, and sexual proclivities.  While many of these responses predictably differed, we also found some similarities across the political landscape, most notably in the levels of stress and the desire to feel better.

A group of people with different height

Study: Exploring Height’s Impact on Self-Perception, Dating, and Work

Women

Have you ever wished that you were just a little bit taller?  Do you have an ideal height that you’re looking for when sizing up potential partners?  You’re definitely not alone there.  We recently surveyed over 1,000 people with a series of height-centric questions and were able to confirm some long-held beliefs about height, among them being the idea that many men and women would prefer to be a different height.  Our study not only found that 60 percent of men and 49 percent of women wished to be taller, but it also found the respondents’ ideal height to be noticeably taller than the national averages.  The average ideal height for women in our survey turned out to be 5’6” (2 inches more that the mean average height for American women), while the average ideal height for male participants was 6’0” (up from the mean average height of 5’9” for American men).  With so much of our ability to meet new partners tied up in our own self-confidence, how are we supposed to enjoy a healthy love life when so many of us are consumed with changing one of the few aspects of our body image that we can’t even control?