Understanding Sexual Orientation

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Many studies show people in romantic relationships feel less lonely than single people.

These studies often focused only on heterosexual and homosexual couples.

A new study investigated the effect of romantic relationships on loneliness in asexual people.

Romantic relationships improve psychological well-being for most people—but do they for everyone?

It has been shown in many scientific studies that high-quality romantic relationships with a loving partner have several psychological benefits, including increased psychological well-being and, crucially, a reduction of loneliness. However, it must be pointed out that these studies mostly focused on heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual people. One group that has largely been neglected in research on the psychological benefits of romantic relationships is asexual people. Asexual people are a sexual minority (up to 3% of people are asexual) which does not feel sexual attraction or desire to other people. Despite that fact, asexual people sometimes enter romantic relationships, but it is entirely unclear whether they experience the same benefits for psychological well-being and the same reduction of loneliness as other people from being in a relationship.

A new study about the psychological effects of romantic relationships in asexual people

A new study, just published in the academic journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, now focused on investigating the effects of being in a romantic relationship on psychological well-being and loneliness in asexual people (Zoppolat and co-workers, 2026). In the study, entitled “Does Romantic Involvement Benefit Everyone? Testing a Foundational Tenet in Relationship Science Through the Case of Asexuality,” the research team led by scientist Giulia Zoppolat from Amsterdam University Medical Centers in the Netherlands analyzed data from the so-called BBC Loneliness Experiment. In this study, data from more than 50,000 volunteers aged between 16 and 99 years were included. Only data from people who volunteered to give information on their sexual orientation, their relationship status, and their feelings of loneliness were included, leaving the final sample at 39,770 volunteers.

Results: No reduction of loneliness in asexual people with a partner

Overall, 3.5% of volunteers identified as asexual, 87.9% identified as heterosexual, and the remaining 8.9% identified as bisexual or homosexual. Overall, asexual people were less likely to be in a relationship than people in the other two groups. Only 15% of asexual people were in a romantic relationship, compared to 48.1% of heterosexual volunteers and 35.2% of homosexual or bisexual volunteers. Asexual people were less satisfied with their romantic relationships than the other two groups. Heterosexual people were also less satisfied with their relationship compared to homosexual or bisexual people. Both asexual and bisexual or homosexual people felt lonelier than heterosexual people, and also expected to be lonelier in old age than heterosexual people.

The scientists then investigated whether relationship status protected against feelings of loneliness. While heterosexual people and bisexual or homosexual people felt less lonely when they were in a romantic relationship compared to being single, this effect was not observed in asexual people. They felt equally lonely in a romantic relationship and when being single.

Taken together, the study shows the importance of including sexual minority groups in research on the psychological effects of romantic relationships. The classic effect that romantic relationships reduce loneliness was only found in heterosexual, bisexual, and homosexual people, but not asexual people, who also generally felt lonelier. Thus, romantic relationships do not make anybody feel less lonely—it depends on the sexual orientation.

Understanding Sexual Orientation

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Zoppolat, G., Barreto, M., Qualter, P., Crosbie, J., & Doyle, D. M. (2026). Does Romantic Involvement Benefit Everyone? Testing a Foundational Tenet in Relationship Science Through the Case of Asexuality. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 0(0), epub ahead of print.

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