There is a growing number of single people in the population in Asia, with a higher tendency for single people to be found in the East and Southeast Asia regions. Nevertheless, limited studies are available on the sociopsychological aspects of Asian singles. In fact, societies in many Asian countries have a variety of responses and attitudes toward singles. The overarching purpose of this literature review is, thus, to present many profiles of singles in Asia, although societal acceptance toward singles in each country varies. This study also explores several government policies and social acts that have been implemented to control the rising number of singles, and reviews their effectiveness. Directions for future studies are discussed at the end of this study.

Singleness emerges as a theme in studies on contemporary relationships across societies, including in Indonesia. While in most Western societies, singleness reflects an individual’s personal preference, marriage is viewed as cultural imperative in Indonesia, and being single is often held involuntarily by most never-married adults. This study outlines the reasons of why Indonesian individuals remain involuntarily single. The interviews of 40 never-married adults aged 27–52 years ( M _age = 33.14; SD = 4.04) revealed that gender and religious differences regarding marriage expectation are central themes in understanding involuntary singleness. The study particularly revealed four gender-specific reasons for why individuals remained involuntarily single: obtaining a career, having an incompatible marriage expectation, having dependent family members, and having temporal perspectives of singleness. Two themes emerged regarding the religious perspective of singleness: religious interpretations about singleness and religion-related coping ways of being involuntarily single. The themes suggest that marriage is not a mere personal fulfillment as cultural and religious values determine individuals’ marriage feasibility. While offering a new perspective of involuntary singleness from non-Western perspective, the results inform strategies to cope with unwanted singleness, particularly in the marriage- and religion-preoccupied societies.

This paper explores the unique role of religiosity in assisting Indonesian singles (extensively refer to those who are never married) and how it relates to the counseling and therapeutic practices with never-married clients. Whereas the role of religiosity has been drawn into scholarly attention for its effectiveness in dealing with many situations that are particularly related to social stigma, little is known regarding its role in assisting singles to overcoming stigma due to their singleness. Indonesian society regards marriage as a social achievement and this perception places singles in an undervalued position. On the contrary, the society regards positively those who demonstrate religious attributes. Therefore, religiosity is a potential factor that mediates social perception of singles who attach themselves to religious attributes (such as: religious symbols and rituals). Using database search methodology, this paper presents an overview of how religiosity assists singles in overcoming their challenges and discusses the implications of those dynamics in counseling settings.

Religion plays a major role in the lives of most Indonesians. While most religions favour marriage, little is known regarding how religion shapes the singleness experience, especially from the Indonesian perspective. The study aims to explore whether and how religion constructs the meaning of singleness and contributes to the quality of life of Indonesian unmarried individuals. Multistage mixed-methods study was employed to answer the research questions through two stages. Stage one was an online survey to 635 participants (Mage = 31.49; SD = 5.49) across three groups (single, single in a relationship, and married). Stage two utilised interviews to 40 unmarried participants (Mage = 33.14; SD = 4.04). The survey results suggest that as a group, single individuals indicated lower levels of quality of life compared to married people. Among single participants, multivariate analysis suggests that religiosity significantly increases life satisfaction, but does not reduce loneliness. Three themes emerged regarding the role of religion in constructing the meaning of singleness: singleness as a God-willed temporary period, a period to embrace life outside marriage, and a period where conservative socio-religious norms are negotiated with contemporary values. The study highlights the complex and pivotal role of religion in the Indonesian singleness experience.