We study determinants of happiness—a subjective measure of wellbeing—for roughly 600 refugees from over 30 different countries currently residing in Utica, NY. For refugees from the former Soviet Union, the former Yugoslavia and Southeast Asia, having many friends from one’s own ethnic group is strongly positively correlated with happiness in Utica, while, for African refugees, English-language skills are a strong determinant of happiness with living in their local area. Income is only modestly related to the happiness of refugees in general, though the results vary by group. We do find strong evidence that those with children are happier than those without. These last two results represent departures from much of the broader literature on happiness in the United States.

中文翻译：

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美国难民的幸福：来自纽约州尤蒂卡的证据

我们研究了目前居住在纽约尤蒂卡的来自 30 多个不同国家的大约 600 名难民的幸福决定因素——幸福的主观衡量标准。对于来自前苏联、前南斯拉夫和东南亚的难民来说，拥有许多同族朋友与在尤蒂卡的幸福感呈强正相关，而对于非洲难民来说，英语水平是生活幸福感的重要决定因素在他们当地。总体而言，收入与难民的幸福程度仅略有相关，但结果因群体而异。我们确实发现了强有力的证据表明，有孩子的人比没有孩子的人更快乐。这最后两个结果代表了与美国许多关于幸福的更广泛文献的背离。