Single parents not missing out on dating: US study

Contrary to what is often assumed about single parents, a new US study has found that single parents of young children date as often as singles without kids.
Researchers from The Kinsey Institute in the US found that single parents of children younger than age five date and are sexually active as often as singles without children - and more so than single parents of older children.
"These data are counter to theory and what was previously assumed about patterns of dating and sexual behaviour among US singles," said Justin R Garcia, a study author from Indiana University.
"Our data sample is large enough that it allows for analyses like this to be informative about the intimate lives of single parents," Garcia said.

"Without the help of a partner, singles often have to divert more energy to parenting and so in theory one might think single parents would not be dating as much. But that's not what we found," Garcia said.
The study involved 5,805 single adults (2,830 single women and 2,975 single men), with 84 per cent noting previous romantic relationship experiences.
The sample included heterosexual (86.2 per cent), gay/lesbian (10.6 per cent) and bisexual (3.2 per cent) singles. Of this sample, a total of 2,121 were single parents; and 342 were single parents with children five or younger.
The study was published in the Journal of Sex Research.