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.

中文翻译：

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单身的斗争：通过性别和宗教的视角发现印度尼西亚的非自愿单身

单身成为跨社会（包括印度尼西亚）当代关系研究的一个主题。虽然在大多数西方社会中，单身反映了个人的个人偏好，但在印度尼西亚，婚姻被视为一种文化要求，而大多数未婚成年人往往不由自主地坚持单身。本研究概述了印度尼西亚人不由自主地保持单身的原因。对 40 名 27-52 岁未婚成年人（M 年龄 = 33.14；SD = 4.04）的访谈显示，关于婚姻期望的性别和宗教差异是理解非自愿单身的核心主题。该研究特别揭示了个人不由自主地保持单身的四个特定性别原因：获得职业、对婚姻的期望不一致、有依赖家庭成员、并有单身的时间观点。关于单身的宗教观点出现了两个主题：关于单身的宗教解释和与宗教相关的非自愿单身的应对方式。这些主题表明，婚姻不仅仅是个人的满足，因为文化和宗教价值观决定了个人的婚姻可行性。虽然从非西方的角度提供了非自愿单身的新视角，但结果为应对不想要的单身提供了策略，特别是在婚姻和宗教占主导地位的社会中。这些主题表明，婚姻不仅仅是个人的满足，因为文化和宗教价值观决定了个人的婚姻可行性。虽然从非西方的角度提供了非自愿单身的新视角，但结果为应对不想要的单身提供了策略，特别是在婚姻和宗教占主导地位的社会中。这些主题表明，婚姻不仅仅是个人的满足，因为文化和宗教价值观决定了个人的婚姻可行性。虽然从非西方的角度提供了非自愿单身的新视角，但结果为应对不想要的单身提供了策略，特别是在婚姻和宗教占主导地位的社会中。