Cambridge Academic Claims the Seven Year Itch DOES Exist

The seven-year itch is a real phenomenon backed up by cold, hard facts, according to an academic from Cambridge University.

There has long been a superstition that the milestone marks the make- or break-point in a relationship, but now statistics professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, claims that scientific data actually backs up the theory.

Sir David claims that if couples make it past the seven year mark, the likelihood they will break up declines year on year after that. He added that the theory still applies even though more and more couples are living together for three or four years before tying the knot.

His claims are backed up by an ONS report from 2012, which showed that the likelihood of a couple divorcing increased steadily in the first years of marriage, peaking at 3.25 per cent around a couple's seventh anniversary. It then gradually decreased again afterwards.

Speaking at the Hay Festival, Sir David said:

"For those who have been married 15 years, about one-and-a-half per cent will end in their 16^th year. Seven years is the peak risk time for divorce during a marriage.

"The risk of divorce just steadily declines as we get used to each other. It's a four-star statistic, the seven-year itch."

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