How to keep your relationship strong, in five easy steps Many people try to find the perfect partner or try to change the person they are with, but it's so much more than that Evaluating the state of your relationship always helps to put things into perspective Credit: Portra/E+ We know a lot about the causes of relationship breakups, thanks largely to the work of John Gottman at the University of Oregon. In one study of couples with nursery-age children his team were able to predict with 93.6 per cent accuracy which pairs would split up within three years. In another – this time with newlyweds – the team predicted with 87 per cent accuracy which pairs would separate within 4-6 years and with 81 per cent accuracy which would go their separate ways within 7-9 years.