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The seven-year itch is a popular belief, sometimes quoted as having psychological backing, that happiness in a
marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...
or long-term romantic relationship declines after around seven years. The phrase was used in the title of the play ''
The Seven Year Itch ''The Seven Year Itch'' is a 1955 American romantic comedy film directed by Billy Wilder, from a screenplay he co-wrote with George Axelrod from the 1952 three-act play. The film stars Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell, who reprised his stage rol ...
'' by
George Axelrod George Axelrod (June 9, 1922 – June 21, 2003) was an American screenwriter, producer, playwright and film director, best known for his play ''The Seven Year Itch'' (1952), which was adapted into a film of the same name starring Marilyn Mon ...
, and gained popularity following the 1955 film adaptation starring
Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...
and Tom Ewell. In his 1913 novel, ''The Eighth Year'', Philip Gibbs attributes the concept to the British judge Sir Francis Jeune. The phrase has since expanded to indicate cycles of dissatisfaction not only in interpersonal relationships, but in any situation such as working a full-time job or buying a house, where a decrease in happiness and satisfaction is often seen over long periods of time. The original meaning, prior to Axelrod's play, referred to
scabies Scabies (; also sometimes known as the seven-year itch) is a contagious skin infestation by the mite ''Sarcoptes scabiei''. The most common symptoms are severe itchiness and a pimple-like rash. Occasionally, tiny burrows may appear on the ski ...
or skin disease. The phrase "seven-year itch" was used in this sense by Henry David Thoreau in
Walden ''Walden'' (; first published in 1854 as ''Walden; or, Life in the Woods'') is a book by American transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau. The text is a reflection upon the author's simple living in natural surroundings. The work is part ...
in 1854 and
Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...
in 1936 in The People, Yes.


Divorce rates

The idea of a seven-year itch puts a specific time on the generally observed phenomenon that data sets of married people show a rising, then a falling, risk of divorce over time. However, statistical results from these data sets are very sensitive to the statistical methods used, and such patterns may just reflect the method, rather than any underlying reality. In samples taken from the U.S.
National Center for Health Statistics The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) is a U.S. government agency that provides statistical information to guide actions and policies to improve the public health of the American people. It is a unit of the Centers for Disease Control ...
, there proves to be an average median duration of marriage across time. In 1922, the
median In statistics and probability theory, the median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample, a population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as "the middle" value. The basic f ...
duration of marriage that ended in divorce was 6.6 years. In 1974, the median duration was 7.5 years. In 1990, the median duration was 7.2 years. While these can fluctuate from year to year, the averages stay relatively close to the seven year mark. Research from 2012 found that American divorce rates peaked after about ten to 12 years. Studies from China of marriages between 1980 and 2010 found that divorce rates peaked anywhere from 5 years to 10 years after marriage, with more recent marriages (post-2000) being more likely to divorce after shorter periods of time. Divorce rates in Finland as of 2018 show similar patterns, "consistent with psychological notions of ‘honeymoon’ and ‘seven-year itch’."


Media influences

The modern usage of the phrase gained popularity following the 1955 movie of the same name starring
Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...
. In the film, a man sends his family off on vacation for the summer while he stays back to work. He begins to fantasize about women that he previously had feelings for, when his new neighbor moves in and he decides to try and seduce her. Things go awry and he ends up not going through with it, but he believes that his wife will somehow know that he is trying to be unfaithful. Whilst the term was originally used for unfavourable conditions of a long duration, the film helped to popularize its usage to refer to the decrease of romantic feelings between married couples over time. The phrase has become so popular that some couples use it as an indicator of the lifespan of their marriage, an example being a Bavarian politician, Gabriele Pauli, who has been divorced twice. She suggests after seven years marriage should end, with the couple required to resay their vows if they wish to continue for another seven years.


See also

*
Effects of hormones on sexual motivation Sexual motivation is influenced by hormones such as testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, oxytocin, and vasopressin. In most mammalian species, sex hormones control the ability and motivation to engage in sexual behaviours. Measuring sexual ...
*
Pair bond In biology, a pair bond is the strong affinity that develops in some species between a mating pair, often leading to the production and rearing of offspring and potentially a lifelong bond. Pair-bonding is a term coined in the 1940s that is freque ...
* Psychology of sexual monogamy * Sexual desire and intimate relationships


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seven-Year Itch Divorce Marriage English phrases