2011年4月25日
WASHINGTON - Does misery really love company?
華盛頓——煩惱真得會與幸福感結伴而來嗎？
An intriguing new study suggests that may be the case.
一項饒有興趣的新研究表明煩惱可能真得會與幸福感結伴而來的。
Researchers who study how people's sense of well-being varies from place to place decided to compare their findings with suicide rates.
研究不同地區(qū)人類幸福指數的科學家決定將研究結果與自殺率相比較。
The surprising result: The happiest places sometimes also have the highest suicide rates.
驚奇的發(fā)現：一些幸福感強的地區(qū)自殺率也相當高。
"Discontented people in a happy place may feel particularly harshly treated by life," suggested Andrew Oswald of the University of Warwick in England.
“越是在幸福感高的地區(qū)，不滿的人們越是覺得自己被生活虧待了”，英國華威大學經濟學家安德魯•奧斯維德(Andrew Oswald)如是說。
Or, put another way by co-author Stephen Wu of Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., those surrounded by unhappy people may not feel so bad for themselves.
或用另一位來自紐約克林頓哈密爾頓學院合作者史蒂芬•吳（Stephen Wu）的話來講，當身邊的人越是不開心，自己反而不會覺得很糟糕。
But Wu urged caution in drawing conclusions, saying: "I don't think that means if you are unhappy you should be around others who are unhappy."
“但他在結論中強調需謹慎從事：‘這并不意味著被一群不開心的人所包圍可以來緩解你的不開心。”
Their study ranked Utah as the No. 1 state for residents' sense of well-being, but it also scored a high No. 9 in suicide rate. By contrast New York State ranked a low 45th in well-being, but an even lower 50th in suicides.
研究結果顯示，猶他州是幸福感最高的地區(qū)，但同時自殺率也以第9名居于前位。相比之下，紐約州的幸福感排名是第45名，而自殺率更低，位居第50位。
The researchers came up with their rankings from a federal survey of behavioral risk factors and U.S. Census Bureau numbers on suicide rates.
幸福感排名來自行為風險因素的聯邦調查報告，自殺率數據來自美國統計局。
Sonja Lyubomirsky, a psychology professor at the University of California, Riverside, who wasn't involved in the research, agreed that living around people who are, on average, pretty satisfied with their lives, when you are not, can make you feel more miserable.
加利福尼亞大學心理學教授索尼婭•柳博米爾斯基（Sonja yubomirsky）沒有參加上述研究，但她同意這個觀點，即當身邊朋友普遍都對生活滿意時，只會讓自己本來不如意的生活增添更多煩惱。
In an interview by email, she said the findings remind her of an effect researchers have discussed in cases where a city with a reputation for being a good place to live also has a high suicide rate.
在一次郵件采訪中，她講道這些研究結果讓她不禁想到一個類似的效應。享有“適宜居住”美名的城市也會有很高的自殺率。
The idea is, "If you're unhappy there, you conclude, `something must be really wrong with me,' or `nothing will make me happy,' so you're more likely to get depressed and take your life," said Lyubomirsky, who researches happiness and well-being.
這個理論是“如果你在幸福感高的城市感到不快樂時，那么你可能會推測‘是自己出了什么問題嗎’或‘再沒有什么可以讓我開心’，長此以往‘你的心情可能更加低落甚至放棄自己的生命。”柳博米爾斯基解釋道（她研究方向主要是人類的快樂和幸福）。
However, she added, other things may also be at play.
但她又補充說起作用的可能還有其他因素。
She suggested there may be other factors that states with high life satisfaction have in common that could be associated with high suicide rates. For example, if they are more likely to be rural, that could mean people also are more isolated. Religious beliefs that vary among states may also have an effect, she said.
她暗示這些因素與較高的生活滿足感相類似，會產生高的自殺率。例如，有的人喜歡清靜的田園生活，這意味著他可能會與大家比較疏遠。州與州間不同的宗教信仰也會有影響。
John F. Helliwell of the University of British Columbia, who has studied well-being and suicide rates internationally, said suicides tend to peak when days are longer, "not as you might have thought, when days are shortest." Researchers have suggested that when people who are unhappy see others in happy, social situations such as picnics, that may bring their own crisis to a head.
英國哥倫布大學約翰 F•赫利韋爾（John F.Helliwell）一直在致力于研究國際上幸福感與自殺率間的關系，他認為當白晝時間較長時，自殺率會達到頂峰，”當然白天時間較短時，也不一定相反”。研究表示不開心的人如果看到別人在參加野餐等社交活動中很快樂時，他們的危機感將明顯增強。
The new study, which has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, looked at the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
這項發(fā)表在《經濟行為與組織雜志》上的研究關注了50個州及哥倫比亞地區(qū)。
It lists the top 10 states for well-being as Utah, Louisiana, Colorado, Minnesota, Wyoming, Hawaii, Arizona, Delaware, Florida and Nevada.
它列舉了前10位幸福感強的地區(qū)，包括猶他，路易斯安納，科羅拉多，明尼蘇達，懷俄明，夏威夷，亞利桑那，特拉華，佛羅里達和內華達。
Four of those states also are in the top 10 for suicide rates, with Nevada ranked 3rd, Wyoming, 5th; Colorado, 6th; and Utah, 9th. Among the others, Arizona was 11th and Florida, 15th.
這些州中有4個排在自殺率前10位，如內華達排名第3，懷俄明排名第5，科羅拉多排名第6，猶他排名第9。亞利桑那州排名第11，佛羅里達州排名第15。
The 10 states with the lowest well-being ratings are: Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, New York, Massachusetts, Michigan and Rhode Island.
幸福感最低的后10位分別為：肯塔基，西弗尼亞，賓西法尼亞，印第安納，密蘇里，俄亥俄，密西根和羅得島。
Just one of those states, West Virginia, is among the top 10 for suicides, ranking No. 8. The only other state in the top 20 was Kentucky at 16th.
這些州中僅有西弗吉尼亞州的自殺率排在前十位。
Wu noted that international studies have found that Scandinavian countries also display high satisfaction levels and high suicide rates.
吳提出國際上已經有研究表明斯堪地納維亞國家也同時具有高的幸福指數和高自殺率。
But the researchers said that because of variations in culture and suicide-reporting systems, it's hard to make comparisons from one country to another.
但研究者稱由于文化差異和自殺上報途徑的差異，很難進行國與國間的比較。
To develop their data, Wu and colleagues used information collected by the federal government in the Behavioral Risk-Factor Surveillance System, a monthly survey designed to gather health data and identify emerging problems. One survey question asks people how satisfied they are with their life and the responses to that from people aged 18 to 85 formed the basis for the well-being assessment. The survey interviews more than 350,000 people each year. The suicide rankings are based on mortality data reported by the Census Bureau in 2008.
吳和同事采用了聯邦政府搜集的數據。數據來源于行為風險因素監(jiān)測系統，該系統每月采集人們的健康數據，預測可能出現的問題。如調查人們對他們的生活滿意度。通過采訪18-85歲的人群進行評估。每年采訪人數超過350000人。自殺率排行榜是根據2008年人口調查局的死亡數據報告制作的。
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Behavioral Risk-Factor Surveillance System: http://www.cdc.gov/brfss
行為風險因素監(jiān)測系統：http://www.cdc.gov/brfss
Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov
人口調查局：http://www.census.gov
