作者：知乎用户
链接：https://www.zhihu.com/question/52482448/answer/269193295
来源：知乎
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2011年《时代周刊》讨论过这个问题，
链接:http://healthland.time.com/2011/04/25/why-the-happiest-states-have-the-highest-suicide-rates/
文章的结论：贫富差距越小可能自杀率越高。但我觉得文章没有说清楚为什么贫富差距越小，自杀率越高，这一结论更多是从数据推倒得出。他只是说明了我们的幸福更多受身边的相对比较（relative comparison)而不受和那些富豪比较（absolute comparison)的影响。
Sadly, this may mean that increasing happiness by reducing economic inequality could paradoxically produce more suicides as a “side effect.” But this is one problem we are unlikely to have, as economic inequality is high and rising in the U.S.
不幸的是，这可能意味着通过减少经济不平等来增加幸福，或会自相矛盾地产生更多的自杀。但这个问题我们不太可能有，因为美国的经济很不平等，贫富差距正在扩大。
Worldwide surveys have consistently ranked the Scandinavian countries — with their generous family-leave policies, low crime, free health care, rich economies and, yes, high income taxes — as the happiest places on earth. But this happiness has always been accompanied by a paradox: the happiest countries also seem to have the highest suicide rates.
世界范围内的调查一直把斯堪的纳维亚国家列为世界上最快乐的地方，其慷慨的家庭假期政策，低犯罪率，免费医疗，良好的经济和针对高收入的税收。 但这种幸福一直伴随着一个悖论：最幸福的国家自杀率似乎也是最高的。
Is it the long, dark winters facing Finland and Denmark that cause the problem? Or some kind of Nordic depression gene? Or none of the above? A new study suggests the problem is not specific to Scandinavia, finding that high suicide rates accompany high rates of happiness in comparisons of U.S. states as well.
是芬兰和丹麦的漫长而黑暗的冬天造成这个问题的嘛？ 或某种北欧抑郁症基因？ 或者以上都不是？ 一项新的研究表明，这个问题并不是斯堪的纳维亚特有的，在美国也存在同样的情况。高自杀率与高幸福指数相关。
Economists from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the University of Warwick in England and Hamilton College in New York examined life satisfaction scores provided by 2.3 million Americans state by state, and comparing these with state suicide rates. Utah, for example, ranks highest in life satisfaction — but also has the ninth highest suicide rate in the U.S. The No. 2 happiest state is Hawaii, which comes in fifth for suicides. New York, in contrast, comes in 45th in life satisfaction but has America’s lowest suicide rate.
来自旧金山联邦储备银行，英国沃里克大学和纽约哈密尔顿学院的经济学家研究了230万名美国人提供的生活满意度评分，并将这些分数与每个州的自杀率进行比较。 例如，犹他州的生活满意度排名最高 - 但同时在美国自杀率排名第九。排在第二位的最幸福的州是夏威夷州，自杀率排名第五。 相比之下，纽约的生活满意度排在第45位，同时在美国自杀率也最低。
Both happiness and crime rates tend to be tied to rankings of economic inequality in states as well as countries — the larger the gap between rich and poor, the less happiness there is and the more crime. This helps explain why the Scandinavians continue to top the charts for most positive outcomes: they have the least socioeconomic inequality in the developed world.
幸福和犯罪率通常都与各个州和国家的经济不平等程度相关，贫富差距越大，幸福越少，犯罪越多。 这有助于解释为什么斯堪的纳维亚人领跑幸福排行榜：他们在发达国家中社会经济不平等程度最低。
Overall life expectancy also tracks with inequality, with a bigger wage gap meaning shorter lives and worse health — for both rich and poor, though the poor are hit much harder.
总体预期寿命也随着不平等而变化，更大的工资差距意味着更短的预期寿命，与更糟糕的健康状况 - 对穷人和富人来说都是如此，尤其是穷人。
Researchers suspect that this gradient is linked to stress caused by our place in the social heirarchy: Stanford’s Robert Sapolsky, for example, has found that even in baboons, lower ranked animals have higher levels of stress hormones and worse health. But when status conflicts are reduced, producing a more egalitarian situation, these differences are also reduced.
研究人员怀疑这一规律与我们所处社会阶层引起的压力有关：例如，斯坦福的罗伯特·萨波斯基（Robert Sapolsky）发现，即使在狒狒身上，地位较低的也有更高水平的压力荷尔蒙和更坏的健康状况。 但是，当地位冲突减少，形成更加平等的状况时，这些差异也就减少了。
Studies of British civil servants have also found that stress-related health problems — like heart disease, obesity and stroke — are directly linked with hierarchy, increasing as a person moves lower down the totem pole.
对英国公务员的研究也发现，压力相关的健康问题 - 如心脏病，肥胖和中风 - 与层级直接相关，层级越低，相应的健康问题越多。
So why doesn’t suicide follow this same gradient? The current study doesn’t provide the whole answer but author Stephen Wu told the New York Times’ Well blog that comparisons with others — comparisons of relative happiness in this case, rather than status — may play a role:
那么，为什么自杀并不遵循这个规律呢？ 目前的研究并没有提供完整的答案，但作者Stephen Wu在“纽约时报”的健康博客中说，与其他人比较 - 在这种情况下是相对的幸福，而不是地位上的优势，可能起到一定的作用：
“Perhaps for those at the bottom end, in a way their situation may seem worse in relative terms, when compared with people who are close to them or their neighbors. … For someone who is quite unhappy, the relative comparison may lead to more unhappiness and depression.”
“或许对于那些处于低谷的人来说，他们的情况与身边的人或邻居相比可能更糟糕。 对于一个相当不高兴的人来说，这种相对的比较可能会导致更多的不快乐和抑郁。
“Sadly, this may mean that increasing happiness by reducing economic inequality could paradoxically produce more suicides as a “side effect.” But this is one problem we are unlikely to have, as economic inequality is high and rising in the U.S.