ted people who cohabitate with someone of the opposite sex during the first year after their separation have a very high level of well-being, while those who do not cohabitate find themselves in hardship with low levels of personal well-being. Similar results were found for divorced persons. Divorced people who cohabitate within the first year of separation tend to have high levels of well-being compared to those who remain single after the separation. For separated and divorced persons the relationship between subjective well-being and cohabitation depends strongly on the time since divorce or separation. In addition, widows and widowers who cohabitate were found to have higher levels of happiness then widows who lived alone and the married.
             A persons religious commitment also seems to play a role as a variable that influences a person's decision to merry or cohabitate. Axinn, Thornton and Hill (1992) found that low levels of religious importance and participation are related to high levels of cohabitation and low
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