TCK Research on Belonging - I am Nothing and I am Everything

A professor at YSU does research in the area of TCKs. I found her article that she co-wrote. The article is very interesting and resonates substantially with what I've personally gone through. The article discusses that due to growing up the way we have, TCKs view social interaction and friendships as a core element to belonging rather than through cultural or geographical roots. The researchers did a study with 6 various TCKs to determine how they construct friendships.

Their research finds four distinct themes in coping and forming friendships: 1. a sense of restlessness: feeling like a square peg trying to fit into a circular hole (hmm sound familiar);2. a desire for stimulation: being half-way there; 3. Coping strategies to compensate or manage a lack of friendship: filling the void; 4. Multiple identities and multiculturalism: being chameleon-like.

Here is a collection of quotes from the article that resonated with me personally:

"It is possible that because many TCKs attended international schools prior to college, they face challenges in interacting with classmates who have not experienced transitional exposure" (Choi & Luke, 2011, p. 49)

"The TCKs described having a hard time feeling understood by the non-TCKs around them" (p. 53)

"Experiencing a feeling of being misunderstood, undervalued, and culturally out of place" (p. 53)

"How thrilled and exhilarated it felt to be in a new environment" "A strong desire and initiative to meet new people"(p. 53) (DEFINITELY!!!!!!!)

"Most of the TCK participants acknowledged difficult in forming meaningful friendships in their current environment. Loneliness, depression, and anxiety were common psychological symptoms experience by the participants, and these were often attributed to their lack of social and cultural connections" (p. 54)

"The TCK participants described developing multiple identities that they used to blend in and adjust to their frequently changing environment or situation" "Playing different roles is really interesting because it makes you really ask yourself, Who are you? Are you really shy?....I am nothing and I am everything." (p.55)

"All TCKs discussed valuing open-mindedness, multicultural experiences, and shared worldviews in their friends over individual characteristics such as age, race, and/or gender." (p.55)

"Upon transition to a university in the U.S., TCKs described experiencing difficulty in adjusting to the local cultural norms." (p.56)

Click on this link and then find the title "A phenomenological approach to understanding early adult friendships of third culture kids" to read the entire article. Just click on download and it will open the article up in a pdf. I'm interested to hear if this resonates with other TCKs and for non-TCKs, does this shed some additional light for you??