Illustration of couple with broken heartsIf you've made it through the notorious seven-year itch, you will no doubt be well pleased with your obviously happy and stable relationship.




But don't relax just yet. According to the latest figures the itching begins a little later, with eleven years the average divorce marker.




The figures, released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), have sparked something of a debate amongst those who support marriage as the basis of social stability and those who refuse to believe that a 'forever' relationship is outdated.




For instance on the one hand Malcolm Brynin, co-author of Changing Relationships, takes the rather sceptical view that marriage is all about what we can get out of it.




He writes: "The costs and benefits of a relationship are more fluid than in the past.




"People come together and stay together only when this is to their individual advantage."




But what of true love, you may ask. Well, it seems many are taking the view that it is simply unrealistic to assume that being together forever is practical.




Frank Tallis, neuroscientist and author of the book Love Sick, argues that falling in love is merely a device used by nature to keep a couple together for the child-bearing years.




After this, he says, the love gradually dies. "This duration corresponds exactly with the time it would have taken our ancestors to produce and wean children."




However, Frank Furedi, professor of sociology at Kent University, told the Telegraph: "When you get married, if you make this kind of statistical calculation saying, 'Well, I'm getting married. The chances are we'll only get to 11 years', the whole ritual becomes entirely pointless.




"If you adopt the idea, we might as well give up on the concept of durable relationships altogether."




With the number of marriages in the UK rapidly declining, the average length of marriages ending in divorce at 11.5 years and 144,220 couples divorcing in 2007, perhaps that's exactly what we've done.




Source: http://rubyroom.aol.co.uk/2009/10/19/the-11-year-itch/