From Ambivalence to Action: Cultivating Paradox Mindsets for Relationship and Family Decisions in Singapore

Grant Call: 2025 Social Science and Humanities Research Fellowship Call 

Project Status: Ongoing 

The project aims to address Singapore's demographic challenge by examining the psychological barriers that prevent young adults from forming relationships and families despite existing structural supports, and by introducing ‘paradox mindset’ – the ability to reframe life tensions as meaningful and generative – as a new psychological construct relevant to intimate decision-making. 

Through his project, Asst Prof Tan hopes to achieve the following objectives: 

• Establish paradox mindsets, a cognitive style of embracing rather than avoiding contractions, as a transformative mechanism enabling individuals and couples to navigate tensions without perceiving them as zero-sum trade-offs. 

• Examine how these mechanisms interact with socioecological conditions such as kin support and workplace flexibility. 

• Test whether paradox mindsets can be shifted through scalable interventions 

Findings from the project will provide insights for policymakers to support relationship and family formation in Singapore by designing more effective interventions that help people navigate the psychological tensions that accompany multiple competing life goals. The research could also benefit other societies across Asia and beyond that face similar demographic challenges.