The seven-year itch is not necessarily real, in that it is not a hard and fast rule that always applies. It is best viewed as an overall reflection of how marriages and relationships tend to go. In many cases, couples will start thinking about ending the marriage – and perhaps starting a new one – after they’ve been together for seven years.
The idea is essentially that the honeymoon period wears off. Young couples are excited to get married, but seven years is plenty of time to settle into the routine of daily life together. This can cause the romantic connection to wear off a bit, and people may then become unhappy in their marriages.
Does this mean that the opposite is also true? If you’ve been married for more than seven years and so you’ve gotten through this critical period, are you now far less likely to get divorced?
Gray divorce is on the rise
The truth is actually the opposite. No matter how long couples stay together, divorce is always a possibility. What statistics show is that gray divorce – divorce cases involving those who are 50 years old and older – are on the rise lately. People in this age group have ever higher odds of getting divorced than younger people do.
One important thing to keep in mind, however, is that all of these individuals may not be in their first marriages. They could be in a second marriage or even a third marriage at their age. This means that they may not even have been in their current marriage for seven years.
The biggest takeaway should just be that divorce is always a potential outcome. This is why it’s so critical for people to understand what legal rights they have and what steps to take if their marriage does end.