New Delhi, Dec 28 (IANS): People who prefer to stay single all their life could be at a disadvantage both economically and medically than those who are married or in a long-term relationship, finds a study.

The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, reveals people who stay single also have lesser satisfaction in life compared to those in relationships. It showed that single people have different personality traits compared to partnered people.

These findings point to the need for developing helpful networks catered to single people. This is especially crucial as people get older and may become more reliant on others, said the team from the University of Bremen in Germany.

"When there are differences, they might be especially important in elderly people who face more health issues and financial issues," said Julia Stern, one of the lead authors and a senior researcher at the varsity.

"They need more help, and the help is usually the partner," she added.

In the study, her team compared 77,000 Europeans who are both single and partnered individuals on life satisfaction ratings and the Big Five personality traits -- openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.

In addition to lower life satisfaction scores, lifelong singles were found to be less extroverted, less conscientious, and less open to experience, compared to partnered people.

Further, the team found that single women scored higher on life satisfaction than single men, while the elderly tended to be happier with their singlehood status than middle-aged singles.

Singles may grow happier with age, but their lower scores compared to partnered people are still worrying, said the team suggested developing new kinds of programmes to prevent loneliness that consider these personality traits and help older singles meet like-minded people.