Family Law

That statistic ? one of many released Wednesday by the U.S. Census ? shows that divorce itself has stabilized in recent decades, neither rising nor falling significantly. But experts say the longitudinal information also suggests divorce remains a threat throughout married life.

"People are at risk of divorce throughout their marriages. That risk probably peaks in years 5 through 10," says Andrew Cherlin, a sociology professor at Johns Hopkins University.

But making it to the 10th doesn't mean a couple won't split, Cherlin says. "Lots of divorces are occurring after the first decade of marriage. It's not the case that if you make it through the first 10 years, your marriage is divorce-proof."

First marriages that end in divorce last a median of about eight years, Census numbers show. But researchers say that statistic has nothing to do with the so-called seven-year itch. "The notion of a seven-year itch isn't well borne out," says Steven Martin, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Maryland-College Park. "There is nothing special with being married eight years."

The Census collected detailed marital responses in 2004 from 27,000 men and 32,000 women as part of its periodic Survey of Income and Program Participation.

"This is pretty much the only data source for this detailed look at marital history for both men and women," says Rose Kreider, a Census Bureau family demographer.

Though 74.4% of men who married between 1970 and 1974 stayed married at least 10 years, just 46.2% were still married after 30 years. Among women, 71.6% were still married after 10 years, compared with 42.1% after 30 years. Cherlin says the number of those whose spouses died is small; nearly all marriages that end by 30 years resulted from divorce rather than death.

Stephanie Coontz, a professor of history and family studies at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., and author of the 2005 book Marriage: A History, says it's "questionable" that marriages of the Ozzie-and-Harriet era were any more stable than those today. In the '50s, "divorce was harder to get, and there were fewer economic options outside marriage," she says.

Of those Census surveyed in 2004:

?12% of men and 13% of women had married twice, and 3% of both men and women had married three or more times.

?Among adults 25 and older who had ever divorced, 52% of men and 44% of women were currently married.

?About a third of men and about a quarter of women said they had never been married.

From USA Today.