The research examines the effects of diaspora on the quality of life of two groups of war refugees to Australia and the US. In particular it explores what happens when war refugees such as the Hmong (from Lao PDR) or the Nuer (from southern Sudan) arrive on Australian shores with attitudes toward violence generated in their war-torn home countries and face laws and services geared to the host country's non-negotiable principles on violence. Whether violence is perceived as a survival strategy or as undesirable appears to be influenced by key dimensions of quality of life, namely: evaluations of safety, trust, social connectedness, and experience of social, economic, and racial discrimination. Do attitudes to civil and tribal violence spill over into the domestic sphere, is exposure to collective violence prophylactic against domestic violence and are health and social services in the host country geared to providing appropriate care and support? The research addresses these questions and poses a series of challenges for cross-cultural measurement of dimensions of quality of life.