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How long does the average relationship last?
In this article, you’ll learn about:
… and much more.
Let’s dig in.
The average relationship lasts is 2 years and 9 months.
A long-term relationship is 2 or more years long.
You’re approaching the average length of a relationship.
Once you get past the average relationship length, you’re in a long-term relationship.
So, a long-term, serious relationship is anything that’s 2 or more years.
70% of relationships fail in the first year.
After the first year, the percentage of relationships failing exponentially declines.
By year 5, only 20% of relationships fail.
Here’s what percentage of relationships fail by the number of years together.
This data got pulled from a Stanford Study of 4,000 people on their relationships.
Most relationships only last 3-6 months.
The percentage of relationships that fail is 70% in the first year.
Let’s talk about how long the average relationship lasts by age group.
This data got pulled from a University of Florida study done by Kate Fogarty.
Younger teenagers dating for the first time have short-term romantic relationships.
They don’t have the communication skills to make it past a few months of dating.
The real determining factor for how long a relationship lasts for teenagers is their parents.
Teens with parents that have healthy relationships have longer-lasting relationships.
They are more able to navigate the early stages of a new relationship.
The average relationship length in your 20s is 3 years long.
Usually, 20-year-olds are more patient than teenagers.
But their lives are changing a lot with moving out, getting jobs, being in college, etc.
The average relationship length in your 30s is 4 years long.
30-year-olds better understand what they are looking for in a serious relationship.
And their maturity levels are higher so that they can have a more successful relationship.
They are willing to work through tougher conversations to have a healthy relationship.
Let’s look into how long a relationship lasts before the couple gets married.
The average relationship length before engagement is two years.
Let’s look at the average relationship length before engagement by years together.
7 years: 5%
After 7 years, the engagement rate falls off to basically zero.
This can get attributed to the “seven-year itch.”
Which says that your happiness with a serious relationship diminishes after 7 years.
The average relationship length before marriage is 4.9 years.
But remember that the average relationship lasts 2 years before they get engaged.
So, that means the average engagement lasts about 3 years before marriage.
This comes in at a total (average) of 4.9 years of being together before getting married.
Less than 2% of people marry their first love.
These people usually find “the one” to be their high school sweetheart.
But, the divorce rate for high school sweethearts is 54%.
So, while only 2% of people marry their first love, only 1% live happily ever after together.
On average, people have 2 serious, long-term relationships before marriage.
This data comes from Bridebrook, which conducted a 4,000-person survey.
Their results showed that people have two serious relationships before they get married.
These are related questions we dug up around how long the average relationship lasts.
The average time between relationships is 1 year and 8 months.
The average time between relationships is:
9 months is a long relationship.
But it is not considered a “long-term relationship.”
After 9 months, the oxytocin levels from the new relationship begin to diminish.
This is the “feel-good bonding” hormone that causes people to fall in love.
After 9 months, the routine starts creeping in and the excitement starts to wane.
Most relationships end after 3 months because it is just a romantic relationship.
There is not enough substance there to make a committed relationship work.
After 3 months, dopamine levels from the early stages of a relationship start to wear off.
Then you start having negative judgments about the other person.
But note that short-term relationships are normal.
Let’s say that you find out that you don’t want to be in a committed relationship.
It’s better to figure this out in the early stages of a relationship.
Compared to going into a long-term relationship that leads to a worse heartbreak.
According to research, most couples break up around the two-year mark.
Around two years, you’re past the early stages of a relationship.
You’ve been losing dopamine and oxytocin for about a year.
You’ve seen their best and their worst for the past two years.
This is why the average relationship lasts about two years.
The average high school relationship lasts 14 months.
High schoolers have short-term relationships compared to older age groups.
But how long the average relationship lasts for a high schooler depends on their age.
The average time to get engaged is two years.
20% of people wait two years to get engaged.
The longer you wait, the more likely your marriage will last.
Most relationships end after two years of being in a committed relationship.
The average age for a first boyfriend is 12.5 years old.
This is the average age that most girls start dating.
But “dating” to a 12.5-year-old doesn’t have to mean they are going out on dates.
12.5 years old is when they start developing relationships with their first boyfriend.
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