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Adult Third Culture Kids HRD Challenges and Opportunities
Adult Third Culture Kids HRD Challenges and Opportunities
Denise A. Bonebright
To cite this article: Denise A. Bonebright (2010) Adult third culture kids: HRD challenges
and opportunities, Human Resource Development International, 13:3, 351-359, DOI:
10.1080/13678861003746822
PERSPECTIVES
Adult third culture kids: HRD challenges and opportunities
Denise A. Bonebright*
Third Culture Kids (TCKs) are children who travel with expatriate parents and
spend significant portions of their growing years in cultures other than their
passport cultures. Such children internalize portions of both the home culture and
the host culture, building a new cultural identity that reflects all their experiences
without developing a sense of belonging to any single culture. TCKs often have
more in common with each other than with peers raised in either their home or
host cultures. As they mature and enter higher education systems and the
workforce, TCKs present both challenges and opportunities for human resource
development (HRD) professionals. This paper reviews the literature on TCKs,
focusing on implications for HRD teaching, research, and practice.
Keywords: third culture kids; global nomads; international organizations;
expatriate work assignments
For most young adults, it is easy to answer the question ‘Where are you from?’ They
talk about the town where they grew up, or the part of the world where they lived as
children. But for some people this is not an easy question. While many human
resource development (HRD) professionals are not familiar with the term ‘Third
Culture Kids’, we get a sense of the concept when someone says ‘I was an Army
brat’, or ‘I was a missionary kid’. This typically means that the person lived in at
least two different countries, was globally mobile, and was not fully part of any one
culture.
The term Third Culture Kid (TCK) refers to children who travel with
expatriate parents and spend significant portions of their growing years in
cultures other than their passport culture. TCKs internalize portions of both their
home culture and the host culture, building a new cultural identity that reflects all
their experiences without developing a sense of belonging to any single culture.
As these children mature and enter higher education systems and the workforce,
they present both challenges and opportunities for HRD professionals. This paper
will explore the concept in more detail. First, it will provide a brief overview of
TCK literature. Next it will review research on the common life experiences of
TCKs. Finally, it will discuss implications for HRD teaching, research, and
practice.
*Email: d-bone@umn.edu
Literature review
The term ‘Third Culture’ was coined by sociologists John and Ruth Hill Useem
during the early 1960s. In an analysis of cross-culture training programmes, Useem,
Useem, and Donoghue (1963, 169) defined the first culture as the non-Western
culture in which an individual was living, the second culture as the American culture,
and the third culture as ‘the behavior patterns created, shared, and learned by men of
different societies who are in the process of relating their societies, or portions
thereof, to each other’. Useem and Cottrell (2001) explained that the concept as
applied to TCKs initially grew out of Useem and Useem’s work with children on
Native American reservations and was developed during subsequent field study
research of Americans living and working in India.
Pollock and Van Reken (2001) revisited the concept of TCK and expanded it to
reflect what they identified as an increasingly mobile and cross-cultural world. They
observed that the number of TCKs has increased with the number of international
careers and proposed that the Useem definition should be expanded to include
contemporary situations such as children born to parents from two different
cultures. However, the authors agreed that the TCK experience continues to present
unique challenges.
The difference with TCKs is that they not only deal with cultural differences in a
particular location, but the entire cultural world they live in can change overnight with a
single airplane ride. Relationships are subject to equally dramatic changes as they or
others around them constantly come and go. When non-TCK children move within the
same culture, they miss old friends and need to go through grief at losing familiar people
and places, but they don’t have to relearn basic cultural rules and practices when they
unpack in the next city. The language remains the same, the currency still works, and
they already know who the president is. When people first go to another culture as
adults, they experience culture shock and need a period of adjustment, but their value
system, sense of identity, and the establishment of core relationships with family and
friends have already developed in the home culture . . . . Their basic sense of who they
are and where they belong is intact. (Pollock and Van Reken 2001, 39)
McCaig (2001) cautioned in her introduction to Pollock and Van Reken that the
original intent of the term TCK, as used by Useem, referred to children who were
living abroad due to their parents’ work. While it may be useful to expand the term
to include other subgroups, such as temporary refugees from civil strife or children
of immigrants, ‘the term risks being diluted beyond use for both researchers and
TCKs themselves’ (McCaig 2001, xv).
Perhaps in response to this caution, Van Reken and Bethel (2005) proposed the
term ‘Cross-Cultural Kids’ to include traditional TCKs along with other subgroups
such as international adoptees, children of multicultural parents, and children of
immigrants. Since more research has been done with the ‘traditional’ TCKs, they
argue that TCK research can provide a prototype for understanding other cross-
cultural children.
Langford (1998, 29) noted that ‘although Useem has focused on American TCKs
there is literature emerging that indicates that the same characteristics and qualities
can be ascribed to young people of other nationalities who share a similar experience
of a childhood abroad’. For example, Lam and Selmer (2003) and Selmer and Lam
(2004) studied British TCKs living in Hong Kong and found patterns similar to
those reported in the US.
Human Resource Development International 353
Sense of belonging
A common theme in TCK literature is the difficulties that can arise in socialization
and finding a sense of belonging to their passport culture (Magna Publications 2005;
Pollock and Van Recken 2001; Useem and Cottrell 2001). Useem and Cottrell (2001)
reported that only 10% of the adult TCK study participants felt completely attuned
to everyday life in the US. The feeling of being disconnected is often stronger in the
passport culture because TCKs don’t appear physically different from their peers.
Human Resource Development International 355
One participant who grew up in India was quoted as observing that ‘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 US I don’t
appear to be different, so if I openly deviate from my friends in 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’ (7). Useem and Cottrell (2001)
noted that ‘throughout their lifetimes there are subtle differences between them and
the American generation that came into adulthood in the same historical period’ (5).
They argued that while there are numerous examples of re-orientation programmes
designed to assist young adult TCKs in the transition, ‘the answer to the question of
how long it takes them to adjust to American life is: they never adjust’ (5).
Occupational choices
For many TCKs, having an international component to their lives continues to be
important into adulthood (Cottrell 2002; Eakin 1998; Ender 2000). Useem and
Cottrell (2001) indicated that most of the adult TCKs who responded to the survey
expressed a desire to travel again, and maintained international connections by
speaking and studying foreign languages, hosting international visitors, keeping their
passports current, and working or volunteering for internationally related
organizations. Ender’s (2000) study found that about half of the respondents
travelled outside the US at least once a year for leisure, and 13% did so for business.
Selmer and Lam (2004; Lam and Selmer 2003) proposed that past experiences
and an international focus prepare adult TCKs to be well-suited for expatriate
assignments with multinational businesses. While noting that desires for interna-
tional mobility may restrict their interest in domestic careers, they stated that
international organizations may be able to attract adult TCKs to corporate positions
requiring global assignments. Gerner and Perry (2000) found a similar interest in
international careers, modified by gender and parental occupation. Cottrell (2002)
further reported that, when choosing a college major, many TCKs reported selecting
a major that could lead to work abroad. Examples included Teaching English as a
Second Language, business, and nursing.
The concern about factors that limit interest in corporate careers may be justified.
Cottrell (2002) found that adult TCKs typically sought careers in which they could
exercise expertise, leadership, and independence, and their most frequently chosen
work setting was in human service fields. Useem and Cottrell (2001) reported that
only a small number of respondents worked in government or in large corporations.
More common occupational choices for the study group included education, with
25% of the respondents working as teachers, professors, or educational adminis-
trators, while 17% worked as professionals such as medicine and law, and an
additional 17% reported being self-employed with many owning their own
companies. Ender (2000) reported similar results, with 29.5% of the former military
children working as professionals, 16% working in business management, and 11%
identifying themselves as full time students. Only a small number chose to follow a
career military path.
There appears to be little research specifically focused on the HRD implications
of career choices for adult TCKs. Ender (2000) and others have proposed that career
choices are based on a desire to be internationally mobile. However, this may not
fully explain the small number of TCKs who work in corporate and military careers.
356 D.A. Bonebright
Constructive marginality
As TCKs attain young adulthood, they typically return to their passport country for
higher education. This often triggers a sense of grief, loss, and loneliness, along with
a reverse culture shock caused by trying to adjust to a ‘home’ culture where they
have spent little time (Eakin 1998; Fail, Thompson, and Walker 2004; Hervey 2009;
Huff 2001). Many experience a sense of marginality – not being fully part of their
home culture and not ‘fitting in’ with other college students, even though they may
share the same physical appearance. Marginality can result in loneliness and
difficulty adjusting to the college situation.
However, Fail, Thompson, and Walker (2004, 333) found that other adult TCKs
experience ‘constructive marginality’ and appear positive and enthusiastic about
their ability to ‘feel at home in different places and relate to people like themselves’.
These individuals are able to integrate various cultural frames of reference into a
whole and productive sense of self. Lam and Selmer (2003) describe constructive
marginality as the ability to develop wholeness among conflicting frames of reference
and compare it to the Japanese concept of ‘dynamic in-betweenness’. Eakin (1998,
101) identified a common perception of TCKs who demonstrate constructive
marginality: ‘When I’m asked how I can stand to move around so much, I reply I
couldn’t imagine life any other way’.
campus visits. Schools with effective strategies for recruiting and advising
international students might do well to consider extending these efforts to TCKs
through networking with international high schools and sponsoring agencies.
Making information available about the number of international students and
support resources provided could also help make the school more attractive to
TCKs, as could the development of global nomad student organizations. Some
colleges, such as Lewis & Clark in Portland, Oregon, have developed special
recruiting strategies aimed at TCKs (Lewis & Clark College 2009).
offer programmes only to the employee. Organizations that are able to prepare
families for the TCK experience and provide supportive resources before, during,
and after the assignment will increase the potential for success.
Conclusion
The concept of TCKs appears to provide a rich opportunity for research and
practice in HRD. For those seeking to develop successful business expatriates, adult
TCKs could represent an under-tapped source of high quality employees. While
providing potential challenges for recruitment and retention, successful TCK hires
would be able to approach international assignments with a well-developed global
skill set and a desire to experience an internationally mobile lifestyle. In addition,
adult TCKs have generated research and resources that would be helpful in training
expatriate families who are facing the challenge of a TCK lifestyle for the first time.
For HRD researchers, there are many questions that could be answered by
academic research on TCK experiences. What factors, if any, make adult TCKs
good international employees? How can an organization attract and retain them? Do
experiences of TCKs whose parents are from the US share commonalities with
TCKs from other countries, such as Japan? Opening a conversation on these
questions could allow the field to draw on complementary literature from education,
business, and psychology, adding to the HRD knowledge base.
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