“七年之痒”还是“五年之痒”？

The way we warred: Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell starred in The Seven Year Itch in 1955

Married couples are at their greatest risk of divorcing just before their fifth anniversary, it is claimed.

A study suggests that we tire of our partners far sooner than we did in the 50s, when the danger point was the 'seven-year itch'.

Five decades on more women are pursuing careers - which can place extra stress on a relationship - and divorce has become increasingly acceptable.

The findings emerged in a study of divorce trends in the U.S., Scandinavian countries and in Russia.

Experts believe they will also apply to Britain, which has gone through many of the same social changes.

Researchers found that the 'honeymoon' period for newlyweds lasts less than five years and that disillusionment and disaffection often set in by the end of that period.

There is an added incentive to battle through this period, however. The study showed that those who manage to make it to ten years are likely to remain married for good.

Aiva Jasilioniene, an academic specialising in marriage and cohabitation studies, helped produce the report for the Max Planck Institute in Rostock, Germany.

She said: "Crisis point for the modern marriage is arriving sooner.

"One of the explanations for these changes in divorce risk is that during the first decade of marriage both partners go through crucial life - course transitions and challenging experiences - completion of education, building a career, bearing children and so on.”

"During the later years, the couple have developed strategies to deal with problems they arise."

The decision to remain together could have a more practical basis, however.

Researchers found that after the five-year point of marriage, couples are increasingly deterred from parting by the cost of divorce and of running separate lives.

The findings are likely to shed new light on the state of marriage in Britain, which is at the centre of a growing political argument.

The Tories are proposing tax breaks for married couples, who tend to stay together longer than co-habiting couples and whose children tend to be healthier, do better at school, and go on to better jobs than children from broken or single-parent families.

Other results suggest that those who marry at a younger age are more likely to divorce.

This could help explain our falling divorce rate.

In Britain, women marry at 33 on average, and men at 36 - each three years older than the average a decade ago.

And at the same time, the divorce rate is falling.

Last year, the rate fell to 12.2 in every 1,000 couples. This is the lowest since 1984, according to the Office for National Statistics. The total number of divorces in 2006, 132,418, is the lowest since 1977.

有调查称，已婚夫妇在结婚第五年的时候离婚的可能性最大。

研究表明，我们对伴侣感到厌倦的时间比50年代提前了，那时候婚姻的危险期还是“七年之痒”。

50年之后，更多的妇女在追求事业——这会给两人的关系带来额外的压力——而离婚也变得更容易接受了。

这些是对美国、北欧国家和俄罗斯的离婚趋势进行的一项调查得出的结论。

专家相信，这些结论同样适用于英国，因为英国经历了许多相同的社会变革。

研究人员发现，新婚夫妇的“蜜月期”已经持续不到五年时间。蜜月期结束后，对于婚姻本质的领悟和对伴侣的不满就会显露出来。

然而，熬过这段时期还有另外一个动机。研究表明，那些婚姻可以维持十年的人很可能一辈子都不会离婚。

艾娃·佳斯里尼恩是研究婚姻和同居问题的专家，她帮助研究者为德国罗斯托克市的马克斯·普朗克协会做了这份报告。

她说，“现代婚姻的危险期提前了。”

“这种变化的一种解释是，在结婚的第一个十年，夫妻双方都在经历生命中的一个重要阶段——转变人生方向和接受考验——完成学业、建立职业生涯、生儿育女等等。”

“在之后的几年里，夫妻二人已经形成了处理各种问题的方法。”

然而，决定继续在一起生活的原因可能更实际一些。

研究人员发现，结婚五年之后，两个人会由于离婚和独自生活的代价而越来越不愿意分开。

研究结果可能会给英国日益激烈的政治辩论焦点——婚姻问题带来些启示。

保守党正提议为结婚的夫妇免税，因为结婚的人比同居的人呆在一起的时间更长，他们的孩子比家庭破裂或单亲家庭的孩子更健康、在学校表现更好，找到的工作也更好。

另有研究表明，过早结婚的人更容易离婚。

这刚好能解释英国的离婚率为什么在下降。

在英国，女人的平均结婚年龄是33，男人是36——分别比十年前的平均结婚年龄大三岁。

与之相对应，离婚率正在下降。

去年，离婚率降到了每1000对夫妇中有12.2对离婚。英国国家统计办公室的数据显示，这是自1984年以来的最低值。2006年的离婚总数是132418例，是自1977年以来的最低值。

seven-year itch: 七年之痒

for good: 永久地，一劳永逸地