Couples experiencing the seven year itch disagree with each other more, become less affectionate, share fewer activities, and express overall dissatisfaction with their marriages, says Kurdek, whose study was published in the September 1999 issue of the journal Developmental Psychology . The seven-year mark is coincidental, says Kurdek. Calif. Not long before her divorce, she had returned to college full-time and took her first vacation alone, both of which were signs of growing independence that she says rattled her husband. He struck up an affair after eight years of marriage. She blames their divorce on a lack of communication and her husband's resistance to change.
Statistics support the idea of a seven year itch.
According to the most current figures available from the National Center for Health Statistics, the median duration of marriage was 7.2 years for couples who divorced in 1989 and 1990. It's difficult to say if the seven year itch applies to unmarried people in long-term relationships, because the research has not been done. But don't count on it. People thrive on a commitment in relationships. Focusing attention on the relationship is the obvious but often-overlooked key to marriage longevity, says Barbach.