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News / Articles
Third Culture Kids: Focus of Major Study
TCK "mother" pens history of field
This is the first of several reports on a study of adult Third Culture Kids being undertaken by three sociologists/anthropologists: Dr. Ann Baker Cottrell of San Diego State University and Drs. John Useem and Ruth Hill Useem, emeritus professors of Michigan State University; and by a counseling/guidance expert, Dr. Kathleen A. Finn Jordan, currently a Consulting Educational Counselor in Washington, D.C. All of these articles were originally printed in NewsLinks, the newspaper of International Schools Services.
By Ruth Hill Useem
Since 1985, Dr. Ruth Useem has been professor emeritus at Michigan State University.
Many people have asked the origin and meaning of the term, "Third Culture" as we use it in Third Culture Kids or "TCKs" and, by extrapolation, in "adult-TCKs." To clear up one confusion, "third culture" is not synonymous with Third World nor with C.P. Snow's Third Culture. However, all are related in that these were early at-tempts to make summaries of what was happening in the world at the time of a major shift in the relationships among the peoples of the globe in the middle of the twentieth century. The ending of colonialism, the dramatic increase in science and technology, and the rise of two relatively new world powers.
At the start of this world transition period (the early 40s), my husband and I were studying an American Indian reservation in South Dakota. Having been trained as sociologists and anthropologists, we were using and adopting the methods and theory of both disciplines to study the intersections between a modern complex society (represented by white doctors, nurses, administrators, teachers, and religious missionaries) and the living survivors of a people who a century earlier had been warriors, hunters, and gatherers. Our findings from the Sioux reservation study started us thinking about people who cross societal borders under the aegis of an organized endeavor and whose work or occupational rolm are involved in relating two or more societies, or sections thereof, to each other. It was about forty years ago (1952) that I had my first cross-cultural encounter outside the United States. My husband and I, accompanied by our three sons (aged four, five, and 10) went to India for a year to study the roles of Indians who had been abroad for higher education. Five years later we returned to India (again with our children) for a year's field study of Americans living and working there, primarily as foreign service officers, missionaries, technical aid workers, businessmen, educators, and media representatives. We also looked at the schools which were being set up for the education of minor dependents accompanying their parents abroad. In summarizing that which we had observed in our cross-cultural encounters, we began to use the term "third culture" as a generic term to cover the styles of life created, shared, and learned by persons who are in the pro-cess of relating their societies, or sections there of, to each other. The term "Third Culture Kids" or TCK's was coined to refer to the children who accompany their parents into another society. What we had observed In India was happening all over the world. By 1960, the U.S. Census published its first ever census of Americans overseas. There was scarcely a country without a contingent of Americans. Some of the over 200,000 American children of school age were attending newly established Department of Defense Schools. Others were enrolled in makeshift schools assisted by the Department of State. Missionary groups tended to set up their own schools and oil companies set up their "camp schools". While there was a great deal of research and many publications on the adults and the organizations which were sponsoring them abroad, there was very little except anecdotal material on the minor dependents and the schools servicing them. The Institute of International Stud-ies in Education at Michigan State University, of which I was part, became involved in servicing the overseas schools. Over the years I taught a course both in East Lansing and in the overseas schools on "the Education of Third Culture Kids" and sat on doctoral committees of students doing research on one or another aspect of the growth and development of TCKs in their overseas educational environments. During the next decades, I visited overseas schools in 70 some countries (in every continent except Latin America) to keep up to date on what was happening in these schools and to the parents who were relating societies to each other. On recent years, I read NewsLinks in many of the teachers? lounges in the schools.) As early as the 1960s and with increasing frequency, changes were oc-curring in the overseas schools and the American comnunities abroad which foreshadowed the major shift in the re-structuring of the world's political economy of the 1990s comparable to that of the 1950s. To give but two illustrations: recognition of China meant that in a short span of time, American military and their dependents were withdrawn from Taiwan. One of the most dramatic and far-reaching changes was the onset of the Vietnam War and its disastrous dose. How do TCKs experience these world changes in which their parents are often intimately involved? How are these experiences reassessed? How do adults who spent early years abroad ("adult-TCKs") in a country in which they had a very happy and rewarding childhood reassess that nation state when it is now the enemy? There also have been mapr shifts in American life. Do adult TCKs evaluate them differently from Americans reared all their lives within the US.? We have had a number of studies of the re-entry phenomenon and a few studies of how they personally adjust, cope, and adapt in their subsequent lives. But we have had no studies as far as we know about the positive contributions which they have made, are making, and could make to their families and local communities, to their workplace and larger society, and to the interdependent and conflictive world scene. Are they an untapped national resource? Would greater recognition of this large hidden dimension of American life (now numbering about four million) increase their opportunities and enrich the lives of others? To answer these and other related questions, four of us have undertaken a research project on adult-TCKs who are between 25 and 90, who currently reside in the United States, and who spent at least one school-age year abroad as the minor dependent of an American parent. We distributed 24-page question-naires to these adult-TCKs and are a bit overwhelmed by the nurnber of people who filled them out, especially as several of the questions require open-ended responses. We are now in the process of coding and analyzing the data. (We had to buy and learn a new computer to handle the large sample!) We will be reporting to you occasionally in NewsLinks about what we have found. Since 1985, Dr. Ruth Useem has been professor
emeritus at Michigan Shte University wkere previously
since 1951 she served as
professor of teacher education, professor of sociology, and affiliate professor of
anthropology. Before that, she taught at Queens College in New York City and at the
University of Wisconsin. For much of her 50-year teaching career, Dr. Useem has had a
special interest in the education of children who grow up in cultures different from their
own. Says Dr. Useem: "I have a continuing love affair with Third Culture Kids (TCKs).
They are all my children because they carry my name. They are the most interesting people
because their rich inner lives belie their often bland, dull, and sometimes wary,
presentation of themselves to others." TCKs four times more likely to earn bachelor's degrees This is the second of several reports on a study of adult Third Culture Kids (see January 1993 NewsLinks). It is being completed by three sociologists/ anthropologists: Drs. John Useem and Ruth Hill Useem of Michigan State University, and Dr. Ann Baker Cottrell of San Diego University, and Dr. Kathleen A. Finn]ordan, a counselor in Washington, D.C. In the fall of 1991 when we began asking adult Third Culture Kids to participate in our exploratory study of the long-term effects of having been TCKs, we hoped to get 100 people to fill in a lengthy questionnaire. We must have tapped a largely unrecognized and unexamined sector of American life. We, and our computers, have been overwhelmed by the number of adult TCKs (680 to date) who have so graciously shared their lives and thoughts with us by filling in the long schedule. In addition, many have given us names to contact, some have sent alumni lists and newsletters, and a few have sent us books and articles they have written. After we get the masses of quantitative and qualitative data on our new computers and learn the software to analyze them, we hope to have more sophisticated answers to the questions: What happens to TCKs when they grow up? What do they make happen? For now we will give you a few of our preliminary findings. The nearly 700 people who returned the unconscionably long schedule range in age from 25 to 84. Seven percent were overseas only during the elementary grades, 11 percent.had only a secondary school experience outside the U.S., and 82 percent lived abroad both as pre-teens and teenagers. From previous research, we had concluded that the "sponsor," the organization for which their parents worked abroad, made a difference in the type of family life and schooling that the minor dependents experienced abroad. The third culture of the diplomatic community differs from that found on a military base. The third culture of business people abroad impinges differently on the daily lives of their children than that of missionaries. What we did not know was whether or not these somewhat different third-culture experiences resulted in different trajectories in their adult lives. To look at these dimensions, we included in our sample men and women whose parents were overseas with the military, the State Department, business enterprises, religious organizations, and a miscellany of other sponsors (e.g., university contracts, foundations, media reporters, etc...). In most cases, the "primary" employee overseas is the father. Among church groups, however, both parents are often accredited missionaries. What are some of our more striking findings to date? One characteristic of these adult TCKs which stands out is that the overwhelming majority of them are committed to continuing their education beyond high school graduation. Only 21 percent of the American population (24 percent of men and 18 percent of women) hove graduated from a four-year college. In sharp contrast, 81 percent of the adult TCKs have earned at least a bachelor's degree (87 percent of the men, 76 percent of the women). Half of this number have gone on to earn master's degrees and doctorates. It would seem that their teachers and counselors in the overseas schools, as well as their parents, must have been doing a lot right over the last 50 years to have such unusual long-term results. But these remarkable educational accomplishments are seldom attained in a straightforward manner. A considerable proportion of the young adult TCKs change colleges and/or majors two or three times. Others drop out, as they put it, to "take advantage of opportunities" that happen to come up. Such detours on their road to obtaining a degree may
range from taking a semester off to "bum around Africa Occasionally they drop out because a course of study is beyond their capacity, but more often they feel their over-seas schooling and experience put them ahead of their peers (and even their teachers). Thus they are often "out of synch" with their all-American-reared peers. A second finding is that adult TCKs are also somewhat out of synch in aspects of their lives outside of education. Throughout their lifetimes there are subtle differences between them and the American generation that came into adulthood in the same historical period. Not being like their peers is usually of great import (and sometimes extremely painful) in the late teens and twenties, but it is of lessening centrality with increasing age. How long does it take for TCKs to become adjusted to American life? The majority of our adult TCKs, including those over 65, report mild to severe difficulties with what has been called "re-entry problems" or "reverse culture shock." This area is rich in literature and a number of reorientation programs have been established by overseas schools, the organizations which sponsor the parents abroad, and international centers of colleges and universities. The programs help the young people through the transition to living in the U.S. The answer to the question of how long it takes them to adjust to American life is: they never adjust. They adapt, they find niches, they take risks, they fail and pick themselves up again. They succeed in jobs they have created to fit their particular talents, they locate friends with whom they can share some of their interests, but they resist being encapsulated. Their camouflaged exteriors and understated ways of presenting themselves hide the rich inner lives, remarkable talents, and often strongly held contradictory opinions on the world at large and the world at hand. Two-thirds of our sample feel that it is important to them to have an international dimension to their lives, although they prefer to establish their homes in the U.S. Three-fourths of them feel different from people have not had an overseas experience. As one woman put it, "I don't feel different, I AM different!" Two-thirds feel they have more transnational knowledge and skills than they have opportunity to use in their domestic lives. Whether or not they have occupations or professions with an international dimension, in their daily lives they do reach out to foreigners, exchange students, and non-English speaking minorities. As one adult TCK put it, "We know what it is like to be confused in a country where we can-not speak the language well." Most of them keep up on the happenings outside the US., esperially in the countries in which they lived as teenagers. When events concerning those countries are in the news, friends and acquaintances ask their opinions about the situation. Occasionally they are called upon to give talks to churches, schools, and service organizations; some are interviewed on TV and radio programs; others write articles for newspapers. As we summarize our questionnaires, begin our in-depth interviews of selected respondents, read biographies and autobiographies of adult TCKs, and scan the alumni newsletters of overseas schools, we are further convinced that this relatively small number of people, about two percent of the American population, has been a rich resource. They relate Americans to the rest of the world and interpret the outside world to the immediate world in which they live. Significant proportions of them actually do this for a living. We think adult TCKs are creative and innovative because they have robust educational experiences. The teachers and administrators of the overseas schools have made major contributions to the development of these unusual individuals. TCKs experience prolonged adolescence Ann Baker Coffrell and Ruth Hill Useem In earlier issues of NewsLinks (see January and May issues), we began to nibble at the edges of the mountain of data we have collected from the close to 700 American adult Third Culture Kids (TCKs) who have filled in our 2-page questionnaire about their third culture childhoods overseas and their subsequent lives. In this report we would like to reflect a little bit on
an observation we made earlier When we asked her if she felt the same way when she was in India (where she grew up, worked for a while as an adult, and continues to visit), she replied, "There I am a partial outsider and they know I live a different life in the United States. If I make a mistake, they just say that is because I am a crazy American. In the U.S. I don't appear to be different, so if I openly deviate from my friend in my attitudes, opinions, ambitions, or even leisure pursuits, they don't say that it is because I am a crazy TCK who grew up in India, they just say I'm nuts." Only one out of every 10 of our nearly 700 adult TCKs, who-range in age from 25 to 80, say that they feel completely attuned to everyday life in the U.S. The other 90 percent say they are more or less "out of synch" with their age group throughout their lifetimes. Being out of step with those around them is especially noticeable (and painful) in the late teens and twenties when choice of mate, occupation, and lifestyle are being worked out. Some young adult TCKs strike their close, peers, parents, and counselors as being self-centered adolescents, as having champagne tastes on beer incomes (or no incomes), as not being able to make up their minds about what they want to do with their lives, where they want to live, and whether or not they want to "settle down, get married, and have children." They have what some call "prolonged adolescence." Others do what those around them are doing. They marry
at the appropriate time, get a "good" job, have a child or children, take on a
mortgage, and then throw it all over at 40 in order to take a job overseas. Some resign
from high-paying positions and return to college to be retrained for a low-paying teaching
job. Still others withdraw from all social contact because of extreme depression and
others withdraw because they have come into inheritance and are quite happy doing nothing
but writing French poetry, or traveling to all the places they have never been. That is
what some have called delayed adolescence. In a few instances, persons have la-beled these actions as character defects in need of psychocounseling or as immoral behavior which should be repented. Usually, however, their behavior goes unremarked by persons beyond their immediate families. On the surface, most adult TCKs conform to what is going on around them in such a way that attention is not drawn to them. As they meet new people and situations, they are slow to commit.themselves until they have observed what is expected behavior. If what is expected is unacceptable or incomprehensible, they will quietly withdraw rather than make fools of themselves or hurt the feelings of others. Their bland and unremarkable exteriors, however, belie not only depths of feelings, but also considerable talents and a wealth of memories of other countries and places, including the expatriates communities in which they have lived abroad and continue to take an interest in. They also have a fresh perspective on the American scene which they are learning about all of their lives. And of course they are not callow youths. They are extremely complex people who are weaving together their memories in a rapidly changing present for an uncertain future. No two adult TCKs come up with identical ways of putting their lives together, but they are actively creating provisional answers to some of the major and minor problems which daily face human beings in this complex world. Their prolonged/delayed adolescent behavior is usually a marker that adult TCKs are trying to bring order out of the chaotic nature of their lives. At this point we are of the opinion that the problems these.adult TCKs face are more related to the American scene than they are due to the simple fact that they have been internationally mobile as children. How they go about constructing answers is more related to the education and knowledge they have derived from their transnational, international, third culture experiences. All of this still doesn't tell us whether the answers they bring forth are constructive or destructive of self and others, or some combination of both. Nor does it say how the overseas schools, teachers, and staff can best help in this process. We already know that the overseas educational experience (which for any one person may take place in as many as six or eight different schools in as many different countries) is a crucial and critical part of the lives of these several million Americans. Nor does it answer the question of whether or not the creative talent of TCKs might be brought about in alternative ways. We shall reflect on these questions in subsequent issues. Stay tuned. In addition to the authors of this report, John Useem
and Kathleen A Jordan have also been involved in the study of adult TCKs. If you have
questions or would like to see them lecture, write to them in care of NewsLinks. ATCKs have problems relating to own ethnic groups Ann Baker Cottrell This is the fourth in a series of articles on Adult Third Culture Kids (ATCKs). It draws on the research currently being conducted by Drs. John and Ruth Hill Useem, Michigan State University; Dr. Ann Baker Cottrell, San Diego State University; and Dr. Kathleen Jordan, consulting educational counselor in Washington, DC, with the participation of 696 ATCKs living in the U.S. The concept of Third Culture Kids has been discussed in the earlier articles (see January, May, and September NewsLinks). Several million Americans have spent all or some of their formative years outside the U.S. as dependents of American citizens working abroad. Most TCK research focuses on re-entry difficulties. Our research on these Third Culture Kids has a different focus than most. We ask what kind of life choices adult TCKs make; what skills, world views, and opinions they carry from a third culture childhood into their adult lives; and how they evaluate the long-term effects of these experiences. To avoid extreme feelings associated with re-entry we have deliberately included no one younger than 25; the oldest respondent is 87. ATCKs generally agree that their international back-grounds contribute positively to their adult lives. Two thirds or more report a beneficial impact on most roles and relationships. The TCK experience is given less credit for benefiting relations with spouse and community activities; not because of any detrimental effects, but because more regard it as irrelevant to those relationships. Three-quarters of our respondents also agreed that "on the whole, I feel fairly satisfied with the way my life has unfolded," further supporting the position that a TCK experience does not pose significant difficulties in the long run. To explore feelings of connection, alienation, and/or rootlessness, as well as cross-culturally relevant skills and behaviors, respondents were asked to indicate whether they agree or disagree with a list of statements. A general portrait of ATCK characteristics can be developed from those statements with which at least half agree. Skimming the data in this way actually underrepresented the amount of agreement because it does not include those who expressed some agreement by choosing "both agree and disagree." An asterisk (*) after a statement indicates that more than two-thirds agreed 1) ATCKs are internationally experienced and continue
their international involvement. ATCKs build on a foundation of international awareness, over 90 percent report having more understanding and awareness of other peoples/cultures than most Arnericans*, but most say they have more cross-cultural knowledge and skills than opportunity to use them. Most also say an international dimension in their lives is important; they work toward that goal by keeping international touches in their homes, welcoming opportunities to meet foreigners*, and keeping informed on the places they lived abroad. Most would like to visit the countries they lived in., would like to live abroad again (though not necessarily in the places they lived as children), and most keep their passports current. (Other data shows a high level of continuing international activity such as speaking foreign languages, traveling abroad, and engaging in internationally related occupational and/or volunteer activities.) 2) ATCKs are adaptable and relate easily to a
diversity of people. These respondents are comfortable in a variety of settings, as indicated by interest in travel and living abroad. They feel at home everywhere (and nowhere). More than eight of 10 report that they can relate to anyone, regardless of differences such as race, ethnicity, religion, or nationality. Most establish relationships easily in new situations and have hobbies or interests which help by connecting them to people wherever they go. 3) ATCKs are helpers and problem solvers. Drawing on their own experiences in new situations, ATCKs reach out to help those who appear unsure and play the role of mediator when conflicts arise. Nearly 90 percent say they can usually figure out a way to handle unexpected or difficult situations.* 4) ATCKs feel different, but not isolated. These respondents feel (and are) different from people who have not been overseas. Most do not identify with members of their ethnic group, and nearly half do not feel central to any group. For some, especially the recently returned, such feelings are painful and create a profound sense of isolation; such ATCKs emphasize feeling at home nowhere, and for some, this feeling lasts a lifetime. Others recognizing these feelings as part of broader, more global identities, stress feeling at home everywhere. The majority in this study reject statements of alienation and isolation such as often feeling lonely, feeling adrift, and hesitating to make commitments to others. ATCKs' international experiences make them appreciate much in the U.S. that Americans take for granted, and most feel the U.S. is the best place for them to be living presently. Sponsorship gready influences the TCK experience. Answers of military and missionary ATCKs are usually at the two ends of an agree-disagree continuum. Military ATCKs had the least difficulty re-entering the U.S. because of the Americanized overseas bases, their highly mobile lifestyle, and only living abroad for short periods, five years or less. As adults they are least critical of the U.S. and have least interest in international involvement. The "other" ATCKs (e.g., children of educators, researches, UN personnel), most likely to have lived abroad for only a year or two, are the most eager to live abroad again, are most likely to keep a current passport, and have the strongest desire to maintain an inter-national dimension in their lives. Differences between responses of women and men to these questions reflect general gender differences more than different TCK experiences. Women reveal a greater concern with interpersonal relations; they are far more likely to have experienced difficulty leaving childhood friends and re-entering the U.S. Yet, as adults they are more likely to believe that TCK experiences enhance their social relations and community involvement. They establish relationships in new situations more easily than men, and more women reach out to help those who seem unsure. Women also experience more stress over conflicting desires for both stability and mobility. Overall, females are more prone to see many sides to an issue and to answer "both agree and disagree." Men report a greater satisfaction with how their lives have unfolded, possibly because they worry less about interpersonal relations and because their self-esteem ties more to external achievements than relationships. Men have a higher rate of agreement with statements related to things over which they have control, such as setting long-term goals and keeping informed about American politics and about places they lived when they were young. Our research asks, how ATCKs' early international experiences are manifest in their adult lives. This brief summary of one section of this research reveals that, in contrast to the re-entry period, ATCKs generally credit their third culture background with positively influencing their adult lives. Beneath these generalizations, however, are many different reflecting the complexity of ATCKs' lives. As we delve further into our rich data, we anticipate gaining insight into these differences as well as the kind of commonalties just discussed. ATCKs maintain global dimensions throughout their lives Ann Baker Cottrell and Ruth Hill Useem This is thc fifth and final article in a senes reporting findings of research on Adult Third Culture Kids (ATCKs). The research for this study is currently being conducted by the authors with Dr. John Useem, Dr. Kathleen Jordan, and the participation of 696 ATCKs living in the U.S. Earlier articles appeared in the January, May, September, and November 1993 issues. Internationally mobile families, and those who work with these families (such as NewsLinks' readers) are interested in the experiences and long-term implications of living outside the country of one's citizenship as a child; that is, being a Third Culture Kid (TCK). The available literature on adult TCKs emphasizes issues of adjustment and may give the impression that feelings of rootlessness and alienation, experienced most severely during re-entry, may last a lifetime. In our research we asked ATCKs how they are affected by having spent some, or all, of their child/teen years abroad. What kinds of world views and attitudes do they have, what kinds of life choices do they make? In this article we look at the actual life choices made by 400 of these ATCKs to see what kinds of educational and career choices they make, the volunteer roles in which they contribute to their local or world communuties, and with whom they share their adult lives. Two underlying questions are: the extent to which their adult lives suggest rootlessness or alienation, and the extent to which they maintain an international dimension to their activities: Higher Education. One of the most notable characteristics of ATCKs is their high achievement. Nearly 90 percent have some academic post-secondary education and over 40 percent have completed a graduate degree; others are near completion of such degrees. They are influenced by highly educated parents and the excellent education most report getting in overseas schools. Third culture childhood experiences affected college choices and experiences; 43 per-cent say greatly, 27 percent say somewhat. Most commonly, this influenced what they studied. Majors chosen by a quarter of this sample were obviously international (e.g., foreign language, anthropology, international relations). Many others were influenced by overseas experiences. For example: biologists captivated early by exposure to African wildlife; historians and artists influenced by exposure to European art and historical sites; pre-med, nursing, and economics majors who decided early to help peoples they knew in a less developed nation. Still others sought mainly to "get abroad again" and so majored in teaching, international relations, international business. In addition to studying many subjects connected to international interests, over a quarter have studied abroad since high school. For some, a study abroad program was a factor in choice of college. The second most commonly mentioned effect of a TCK background on college experience was, indeed, the issue of adjustment. Many reported that they "just didn't fit in" with their parochial peers. A small number felt they fared better than other freshmen because new situations were "old hat" to them. Third, many of these ATCKs had to select a U.S. college sight unseen and attend while their families remained overseas. Accordingly, a number chose colleges their parents or friends had attended. "Missionary Kids", (MKs) often chose church-related schools which were tuition-free and where there would be other MKs. Others selected small universities like their international schools, large universities which would have foreign students, or colleges near grandparents. Continuing a pattern of mobility and change, a significant proportion of ATCKs decided that their first college choice was not right for them, or that college was not right at that time. Over a third (38 percent) got no degree at the first college they attended; nearly half (45 percent) have attended three or more colleges (not including technical schools and institutes), and some have attended as many as nine different colleges or universities. A corollary of this academic mobility is the fact that nearly half of those who earned a bachelor's degree (44 percent) were out of synch with their age group, finishing after age 22. Occupation. ATCKs' career achievements reflect their high levels of education. The majority (over 80 percent) are professionals, semi-professionals, executives, or managers/officials. Only 6 percent, half students, half homemakers, report no job beyond part time/summer work in college. Occupational choices reflect a continued love of learning, interest in helping, and desire for independence and flexibility. Fully one quarter work in educational institutions as teachers, professors, or administrators. The next largest number (17 percent) are in professional settings, such as medical or legal fields. An equal proportion are self-employed, one-third of these as presidents of their own companies. The self-employed, in particular, reflect the creative and risktaking streak found in so many TCKs. One won't find many TCKs in large corporations. Nor are there many in government. Two-thirds. of the small number (6 percent) in this sample who have government jobs are in foreign service/AID or in branches such as the Bureau of Wildlife and Fisheries, or national parks. Although they may have been influenced by their parents' work overseas, they have not followed in parental footsteps. Twenty percent of this sample were MKs, but only 2 percent have a career in the church. Likewise, 25 percent were military dependents, but only 6 percent are in the armed forces. Most (56 percent) have incorporated an international dimension in some occupational role. For some, jobs have been highly international, such as working overseas or foreign student advising. Others weave an international dimension into their work; for example a teacher enlivening her social studies class with tales and photos of her Brazilian childhood. Volunteering. Reflecting, or perhaps explaining, the relative lack of alienation reported in the last article, most (over 75 percent) actively participate in their local community or in a broader network. For most, volunteer activity centers on their children (PTA, sports, scouts, etc.) and their church. About half 47 percent of those who report volunteer activities include an international dimension, such as: participating in organizations such as United Nations Association; hosting exchange students; or translating in courts, schools, or hospitals. In addition to volunteering, many TCKs have supported advocacy/protest activities. Most common have been antiwar activities, primarily student protest against the Vietnam war. Not surprisingly, military TCKs are the least represented in anti-war protest. Contacts. Whether in professional or volunteer roles, through friendship or family networks, the vast majority (92 percent) have at least yearly contact with people from other countries. Nearly a quarter associate with internationals at least once a month, some daily. A majority also report some, though often infrequent, contact with people they knew as children abroad. Increasingly popular are school reunions which validate the third culture and TCK identity and maintain contacts. A characteristic which truly distinguished ATCKs from most Americans is their ability in foreign languages. Fully 80 percent of these respondents use a language other than English at least occasionally. Twenty percent use another language regularly; some are bilingual and work daily in one or more foreign language. Half of those who communicate in a language other than English use two or more. Family and Community. A number of our respondents continue to feel rootless, alienated, and unable to make commitments to people or places. Most, however, marry (80 percent) and settle into their communities. Commitment is suggested by the fact that the divorce rate is lower than the national average; two out of three who marry do so only once. However, ATCKs tend to marry late 41 percent did not wed until after 25. While nearly all married Americans, most (60 percent) in this study married someone who had at least some international experience when they met; a number married other TCKs. Most of those who marry (80 percent) have children and typically report that their child-rearing is in some way influenced by having lived abroad. These answers are undoubtedly an important way TCKs differ from other globally mobile individuals such as immigrants. Rather than stress a national or ethnic identity, these ATCKs seek ways to introduce their offspring to the diversity of the world's people and cultures. Their message, overwhelmingly, is one of accepting, respecting, and treasuring differences. A sense of fitting in, of finding a home, is indicated
by the fact that 70 percent say it would be somewhat or very difficult to leave their
present community. For some this is a matter of obligations, but for most it is because
they are integrated into community or friendship groups, and, as a number pointed out,
"I've lived here longer than any place in my life." While saying that they would
hate to leave, the TCK background surfaces in many who added that they could move easily
and would, in fact, enjoy meeting new people and new challenges. See also:
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