Adjustment in third culture kids: A systematic review of literature

Abstract

Third Culture Kids (TCKs) are children of expatriates who live in a culture other than their country of nationality or their parent's country of nationality for a significant part of their childhood. Past research has indicated that adjustment is a key factor in the success of global mobility. However, current research in the area of TCK adjustment is lacking. This systematic review aims to present and summarize all available published scientific data on the adjustment of internationally mobile children and adolescents who relocate with their families. We aim to understand factors related to TCK adjustment, highlight lacking research areas, and define areas of interest for future research. The eligibility criteria for inclusion in the review were: traditional TCKs; aged 7–17 years; measures taken during the relocation; outcome variables of wellbeing, psychological adjustment or social adjustment, or socio-cultural adjustment or adjustment. An initial search across eight databases in December 2021 yielded 9,433 studies, which were included in COVIDENCE and reviewed independently by two researchers at each phase. We finally included 14 studies in this study, 10 of which presented quantitative data. Extracted quantitative and qualitative studies were abstracted, and the main findings are presented using a consistent grid of codes: an initial computerized lexical scan (Leximancer) of all included papers generated a preliminary list of topics and their frequencies. We refined these initial topics using the most prominent theories around the topics of TCK, adjustment, and the extracted theories from selected papers and created a codebook. Then we abstracted the quantitative data from the selected studies and organized the statistically significant findings according to the codes. Lastly, we abstracted and synthesized the findings from qualitative studies. Efforts were made to present the available data within a reading grid, which enhances the understanding of mechanisms specific to the sample population and also makes it apparent where more research is needed. Specifically, findings suggest a need for a more inclusive multi-trajectory adjustment model and a better definition of the ecological sample. The coding system for the extraction and analysis in this systematic review may be a guide for researchers planning future studies on TCK adjustment.Systematic review registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42020151071, identifier: CRD42020151071.

Stress, mental health and sociocultural adjustment in third culture kids: exploring the mediating roles of resilience and family functioning

“…The datasets presented in this study can be found in online repositories. The names of the repository/repositories and accession number(s) can be found at: Jones et al (2022) . Data set – Stress, Mental Health and Sociocultural Adjustment in Third Culture Kids: The Mediating Roles of Resilience and Family Functioning [Data set], Zenodo, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7304328 .…”

“…The datasets presented in this study can be found in online repositories. The names of the repository/repositories and accession number(s) can be found at: Jones et al (2022)…”

What’s Important: The Road to Restoring My Roots

“…Living out the lattermost value has never been simple: growing up in the dominant U.S. culture by day and my parents’ Arab culture by night (a term I would later learn to be known as being a “third-culture kid” 1 ), much of my childhood was spent trying to establish my own sense of belonging and self-identity. Participating in “normal kid” activities such as dressing up for Halloween, going to the prom, and sleepovers with my American friends was typically perceived as a threat to my “Arab-ness” and therefore discouraged by my family.…”