How TCK are you?

The research behind it

Each statement in the quiz maps to a trait researchers describe in third culture kids. This is a fun self-check, not a validated psychological test - but every trait is real. What is a TCK?

1. The standard reference on TCKs. Defines a TCK as someone who spends a significant part of their developmental years outside their parents' culture, and describes the common profile: the hard "where are you from?" question, the 'cultural chameleon', the 'hidden immigrant' feeling in the passport country, restlessness, and particular relationship patterns.

   Pollock, D. C., Van Reken, R. E. & Pollock, M. V. Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds (1999; 3rd ed. 2017). Nicholas Brealey.

2. The sociologists who coined the term "third culture" for the shared culture of people living between cultures.

   Useem, J., Useem, R. & Donoghue, J. (1963). Men in the Middle of the Third Culture. Human Organization, 22(3), 169-179.

3. Life histories of former international school students, exploring how they experience belonging and identity - including the sense of belonging everywhere and nowhere.

   Fail, H., Thompson, J. & Walker, G. (2004). Belonging, identity and Third Culture Kids. Journal of Research in International Education, 3(3), 319-338.

4. Describes the many losses TCKs go through with each move - people, places, pets, routines - and how that grief often goes unrecognised by others.

   Gilbert, K. R. (2008). Loss and Grief between and Among Cultures: The Experience of Third Culture Kids. Illness, Crisis & Loss, 16(2), 93-109.

5. Multilingual, multicultural teenagers scored higher on open-mindedness than their monocultural peers - and lower on emotional stability, hence "no gain without pain".

   Dewaele, J.-M. & van Oudenhoven, J. P. (2009). The effect of multilingualism/multiculturalism on personality: no gain without pain for Third Culture Kids? International Journal of Multilingualism, 6(4), 443-459.

6. Reviews adult TCKs' strengths (cross-cultural skills, languages, a global outlook) alongside their challenges (rootlessness, identity, restlessness).

   Bonebright, D. A. (2010). Adult third culture kids: HRD challenges and opportunities. Human Resource Development International, 13(3), 351-359.

7. Found that third culture individuals showed greater interpersonal sensitivity - reading people and social cues - than people who grew up in one culture.

   Lyttle, A. D., Barker, G. G. & Cornwell, T. L. (2011). Adept through adaptation: Third culture individuals' interpersonal sensitivity. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 35(5), 686-694.

8. Third culture individuals tended to describe a multicultural identity - belonging to several cultures at once - rather than a confused one.

   Moore, A. M. & Barker, G. G. (2012). Confused or multicultural: Third culture individuals' cultural identity. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 36(4), 553-562.

9. Examined whether growing up across cultures is linked to how much prejudice people hold toward other groups.

   Melles, E. A. & Schwartz, J. (2013). Does the third culture kid experience predict levels of prejudice? International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 37(2), 260-267.

10. How highly mobile children build a sense of 'home' - often around people, memories, and belongings rather than a single place.

    Lijadi, A. A. & van Schalkwyk, G. J. (2017). Place identity construction of Third Culture Kids: Eliciting voices of children with high mobility lifestyle. Geoforum, 81, 120-128.