Interesting Information about TCKs

I wanted to share some interesting information about Third Culture Kids (TCKs). "Third Culture Kids" (TCKs) describe kids who have spent a majority of their developmental years outside their passport country. TCKs integrate aspects of their birth culture (the first culture/passport country) and the new culture (the second culture), creating a unique "third culture."

Missionary Kids (MKs) typically spend the most time overseas in one country. 85% of MKs spend more than 10 years in foreign countries and 72% have lived in only one foreign country. MKs generally have the most interaction with the local populace, integrating themselves into the local culture; and the least interaction with people from their passport country. This makes it much harder for them to return to their passport country for college, a job, etc.

There are different characteristics that impact the typical Third Culture Kid:

  • Teenage TCKs are more mature than non-TCKs, but ironically take longer to "grow up" in their 20s.
  • 90% feel "out of sync" with their peers.
  • Lack a sense of "where home is" but often nationalistic.
  • Depression and suicide are more prominent among TCK's.
  • Some studies show a desire to "settle down" others a "restlessness to move".
  • TCKs are 4 times as likely as non-TCKs to earn a bachelor's degree (81% vs 21%)
  • 40% earn an advanced degree (as compared to 5% of the non-TCK population.)
  • 45% of TCKs attended 3 universities before earning a degree.
  • Educators, medicine, professional positions, and self employment are the most common professions for TCKs.
  • 90% report feeling as if they understand other cultures/peoples better than the average American.

You know you are a Third Culture Kid (TCK) when:

  • "Where are you from?" has more than one reasonable answer.
  • You've said that you're from foreign country X, and (if you live in America) your audience has asked you which US state X is in.
  • You feel odd being in the ethnic majority.
  • You have a passport but no driver's license.
  • You go into culture shock upon returning to your "home" country.
  • You wince when people mispronounce foreign words.
  • You don't know whether to write the date as day/month/year, month/day/year, or some variation thereof.
  • The best word for something is the word you learned first, regardless of the language.
  • You get confused because US money isn't colour-coded.
  • You think VISA is a document that's stamped in your passport, not a plastic card you carry in your wallet.
  • You own personal appliances with 3 types of plugs, know the difference between 110 and 220 volts, 50 and 60 cycle current, and realize that a trasnsformer isn't always enough to make your appliances work.
  • You fried a number of appliances during the learning process.
  • You think the Pledge of Allegiance might possibly begin with "Four-score and seven years ago..."
  • You believe vehemently that football is played with a round, spotted ball.
  • You get homesick reading National Geographic.
  • You think in the metric system and Celsius.
  • You may have learned to think in feet and miles as well, after a few years of living (and driving) in the US. (But not Fahrenheit. You will never learn to think in Fahrenheit).
  • You haggle with the checkout clerk for a lower price.
  • You've gotten out of school because of monsoons, bomb threats, and/or popular demonstrations.
  • You speak with authority on the subject of airline travel.
  • You think that high school reunions are all but impossible.
  • You have friends from 29 different countries.
  • You sort your friends by continent.
  • You have a time zone map next to your telephone.
  • You realize what a small world it is, after all.

Information resourced from : http://www.tckidnow.com/whats-a-tckid/