Upon arrival in the United States, the Southeast Asian "Boat People" faced a multitude of problems that would seem to have hindered their achieving economic self-sufficiency. Nonetheless, by the time of a 1982 research study which interviewed nearly 1,400 refugee households, 25 percent of all the households in the sample had achieved economic independence. The relative success of these immigrants is attributed to their own resourcefulness. Apart from site of settlement, all the strong predictors of progress were individual and familial characteristics, including: length of time in the United States, fluency of English, number of employable adults in the household, and (somewhat less strongly) education and past occupation. In a separate series of analyses from this study, the academic achievement of approximately 350 school-aged children was investigated. After an average of just 3 years in this country, these children were found to be doing extremely well in school. Achievement was highest in children with families that embodied traditional Confucian cultural values, in which parents read to their children, and in which two parents played equal roles in decisionmaking. To further improve the lives of the Southeast Asian refugees, the researchers recommend: more frequent and more accessible employment counseling and training; childcare services that will better enable adults (especially women) to enter the labor force, and a strong, well-defined national service and policy for resettlement. (KH)