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The seven-year itch is a psychological term that suggests that happiness in a relationship declines after around year seven of a marriage.〔Aaron Dalton. "(The Ties That Unbind )", ''Psychology Today'', 1 January 2000. Retrieved 12 June 2012.〕 The phrase originated as a name for irritating and contagious skin complaints of a long duration. Examples of reference may have included STD outbreaks that are known to significantly decrease in frequency after seven years, or mites that live under the skin (scabies) and cause severe itching that is hard to get rid of. Later on in the 19th and early 20th centuries it was viewed as an expression of imagined appropriate punishment for antisocial behavior, or as a simile for a situation with little hope in relief.〔Martin, G. "http://phrases.org.uk/meanings/seven-year-itch.html", The seven-year itch:, (n.d.). Retrieved 30 December 2013.〕 The phrase was first used to describe an inclination to become unfaithful after seven years of marriage in the play ''The Seven Year Itch'' by George Axelrod, and gained popularity following the 1955 film adaptation starring Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell. 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. ==Divorce rates== The seven-year itch can be analyzed quantitatively. Divorce rates show a trend in couples that, on average, divorce around seven years. Statistics show that there is a low risk of separation during the first months of marriage. After the "honeymoon" months, divorce rates start to increase. Most married couples experience a gradual decline in the quality of their marriage; in recent years around the fourth year of marriage. Around the seventh year, tensions rise to a point that couples either divorce or adapt to their partner.〔Kiernan, K. (1999). Cohabitation in Western Europe. Population Trends, 96: 25-32.〕 In samples taken from the National Center for Health Statistics, there proves to be an average median duration of marriage across time. In 1922 the median duration of marriage that ended in divorce was 6.6.〔Ellis, R., & Kreider, R. (2011). Number, Timing, and Duration of Marriages and Divorces:2009. Current Population Reports. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/p70-125.pdf.〕 In 1974 the median duration was 7.5. In 1990 the median duration was 7.2. While these can fluctuate from year to year, the averages stay relatively close to the seven year mark.〔U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1981).Duration of Marriage Before Divorce. National Vital Statistics System 21, 38. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_21/sr21_038.pdf〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The seven-year itch」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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