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Fear of being single might be the main reason of not having a healthy relationship, a new study finds. As loneliness is an unpleasant experience, men and women might be helpless but to settle in their existing relationship.

“Loneliness is a painful experience for both men and women, so it’s not surprising that the fear of being single seems not to discriminate on the basis of gender,” study co-author, Geoff MacDonald, a professor at the University of Toronto’s department of psychology, said in a press release.

As a part of the survey, men and women of different age-groups were called upon to participate. In an online survey 126 women and just 27 men were asked about their opinions on being alone. Around 40 per cent of the participated said that they did not fear lives alone. However around 12 per cent of them said that they both enjoyed the positives as well as negatives of being alone (single).

18 per cent of the participant admitted that they feared about “spinsterhood”.

Later in the research it was evident that both men and women were too scared of being single that they would compromise in unfulfilling relationship. Ultimately those who had fears of being alone, they were less likely to get out by a bad relationship.

"Now we understand that people’s anxieties about being single seem to play a key role in these types of unhealthy relationship behaviors,” lead author Stephanie Spielmann, a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Toronto’s department of psychology, said according to WIBW.

The study is published in the issue of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.