Assessing Happiness within the Hispanic/Latinx Population

Individuals have been making the journey to America with the promise of a better, more fulfilling, happier life for hundreds of years. An individual\u27s reason for migrating to the United States has varied from religious freedom, escaping authoritative regimes, to the ideation of economic prosperity. In 2021 the United States’ immigration population reached a record high of 46.2 million individuals. One of the leading causes of an immigrant\u27s journey to America is in hopes of obtaining a more fulfilled life through economic stability. That said, since the development of Happiness Economics in the late 1900s, the relationship between financial excellence and happiness has been subject to scrutiny. The new field of Happiness Economics was coined in 1974 by Richard Easterlin with the development of the Easterlin Paradox. This economic theory takes an expansive approach to understand individual wellbeing through a model wherein after basic needs are met, one’s sustained level of happiness will not extend beyond a set point with an increase in per capita income (Clark et al., 2008). Tangentially, a similar paradox was discovered within Latin American countries known as the Latin American Paradox, which states individuals living in Latin America report higher levels of life satisfaction with respect to their income levels. Moreover, findings have also reported that Hispanic/Latinx individuals who migrated to America generally report lower levels of happiness than natives. The development of these two theories calls into question the rationale of the 46.2 million immigrants who came to America in hopes of a better, happier life. This study will seek to answer the following questions: Is social position a significant determinant of happiness for Hispanic/Latino-Americans? To what extent do economic and non-economic factors impact Happiness within the Hispanic/Latino population