Levels of Well-Being Among Men Who Are Incel (Involuntarily Celibate)
Prior Incel Research
A comprehensive literature review on the psychological profile of incels (Stijelja, 2021) found that before 2014, there was almost no scholarly literature studying incels. What little research that had been done found that incels share several characteristics with adult virgins and young adults experiencing late sexual onset, including a significant fear of having irretrievably “missed out” on meaningful life experiences (Stijelja, 2021).
Although incel research is in its infancy, we can infer some information about incels’ well-being from the literature on sexlessness and mental well-being, in particular the findings that romantic loneliness is associated with lower well-being and negative emotions (Gómez-López et al., 2019), and romantic loneliness is higher among individuals who perceive themselves to be involuntarily, rather than voluntarily, single (Adamczyk, 2016).
Based on this research, we might expect inceldom, i.e., the condition of being involuntarily celibate, to be associated with a number of negative mental health outcomes. Indeed, because incels form their identity around this perceived inability to form sexual or romantic relationships, it might even be the case that the effect of singlehood on mental health is exaggerated among this subgroup.
In recent years, specific research on the incel community has grown, examining topics ranging from misogynistic online rhetoric (Byerly, 2020; Jaki et al., 2019), Big Five personality traits (Bieselt, 2020), to incel pornography use (Stickel, 2020). However, Speckhard et al. (2021) note that almost all academic studies which include primary responses from incels used the same limited data set—an online survey of incels (n=28) from the University of Twente in the Netherlands.
More recently, larger quantitative studies with samples in excess of 250 have started to emerge, focusing on incel experiences, grievances, ideology, and prevalence of mental health diagnoses (Moskalenko et al., 2022; Speckhard et al., 2021). Speckhard and Ellenberg (2022) conducted a study of 272 self-identified incels and found a higher self-reported prevalence of formal psychological diagnoses than in the general population. These larger studies worked in partnership with one specific incel forum, Incels.is, and as such,
Prior Incel Research
A comprehensive literature review on the psychological profile of incels (Stijelja, 2021) found that before 2014, there was almost no scholarly literature studying incels. What little research that had been done found that incels share several characteristics with adult virgins and young adults experiencing late sexual onset, including a significant fear of having irretrievably “missed out” on meaningful life experiences (Stijelja, 2021).
Although incel research is in its infancy, we can infer some information about incels’ well-being from the literature on sexlessness and mental well-being, in particular the findings that romantic loneliness is associated with lower well-being and negative emotions (Gómez-López et al., 2019), and romantic loneliness is higher among individuals who perceive themselves to be involuntarily, rather than voluntarily, single (Adamczyk, 2016).
Based on this research, we might expect inceldom, i.e., the condition of being involuntarily celibate, to be associated with a number of negative mental health outcomes. Indeed, because incels form their identity around this perceived inability to form sexual or romantic relationships, it might even be the case that the effect of singlehood on mental health is exaggerated among this subgroup.
In recent years, specific research on the incel community has grown, examining topics ranging from misogynistic online rhetoric (Byerly, 2020; Jaki et al., 2019), Big Five personality traits (Bieselt, 2020), to incel pornography use (Stickel, 2020). However, Speckhard et al. (2021) note that almost all academic studies which include primary responses from incels used the same limited data set—an online survey of incels (n=28) from the University of Twente in the Netherlands.
More recently, larger quantitative studies with samples in excess of 250 have started to emerge, focusing on incel experiences, grievances, ideology, and prevalence of mental health diagnoses (Moskalenko et al., 2022; Speckhard et al., 2021). Speckhard and Ellenberg (2022) conducted a study of 272 self-identified incels and found a higher self-reported prevalence of formal psychological diagnoses than in the general population. These larger studies worked in partnership with one specific incel forum, Incels.is, and as such,
