U.S. third culture kids’ identity and college success

Third Culture Kids (TCKs), people who spend a significant number of their developmental years in a country other than their parents’ passport (home) country, have many positive attributes. These include the ability to see other points of view, be open to people from different backgrounds, and be adaptable. This phenomenological study, based on interview data, explored how their identity as TCKs helped them succeed in college through an anti-deficit perspective. The population was nine participants (three men, six women) who had all lived outside of the United States of America (their parents’ home country) for at least seven years before the age of 18 and who returned to the United States. for college. The findings indicate a need for updated study on the experiences of Third Culture Kids and how they conceptualize and understand their own identities and its relation to the idea of a third culture. Recommendations are made for TCKs and their families, and institutions of higher education in supporting them.     

Complex but integrated: Exploring social and cultural identities of women Third Culture Kids (TCK) and factors predicting life satisfaction

The 21 st century, defined by cultural diversity and global mobility, has triggered an unprecedented increase in multicultural individuals, defined as people who internalised more than one culture. Contrasting evidence related to multiculturalism calls for more explorative research to understand cross-cultural identities. The present study explored social and cultural identities of adult female Third Culture Kids (TCKs) (n = 122), multicultural individuals who live mobile lives, and adjustment factors of a global mindset, social inclusiveness and essentialism to find predictors of life satisfaction. We classified social identity into four we-concepts: we-group, we-category, we-attributive and we-axiological, and cultural identity into three configurations: integration, categorisation and compartmentalisation. Our results suggested that TCK define social identity predominantly based on passport country (we-category) and relationships with family and friends (we-group). We indicated that axiological (value-based) social identification and global mindset buffered essentialism and categorisation known to disturb cross-cultural relationships. There was a general tendency for integrated cultural identity, with cultural configurations of categorisation and compartmentalisation correlating positively with essentialism. Hierarchical regression analysis evidenced that integrated multicultural identity, global mindset, and social inclusiveness were significant positive predictors of life satisfaction for female TCK. These results feed into a better understanding of the TCK configurations of collective identities and highlighted new factors related to TCK well-being.     

Where I’m from? Third Culture Kids about their cultural identity shifts and belonging

This study explored the affect of Third Culture Kids (TCKs) towards their home and host culture(s) and how this affect may indicate possible cultural identity shifts as distinguished in Sussman’s (2000) cultural identity shift model. To this end, the method of poetic inquiry was used. The poems were concerned with TCKs’ affective experiences (Prendergast, 2009). We also investigated whether TCKs described their belonging in terms of personal relationships rather than in terms of geographical locations.Twenty TCKs, ranging in age from 26 to 70 years and from five ‘home cultures’, expressed their early cross-cultural experiences through the free verse poem of “Where I’m from”. A mixed method approach of qualitative and quantitative research was applied, by combining poetic inquiry using a free verse poem format and clustering these data by means of coding in Atlas.ti. TCKs’ poems were analyzed using belonging, affect, and practices-food-nature-events as key codes.Findings revealed that TCKs expressed stronger positive affect towards their host cultures than towards their ‘home’ cultures, indicating a subtractive cultural identity shift. We also found that TCKs defined their belonging more in terms of personal relationships than in terms of geographical locations. This study shows that TCKs’ sense of belonging seems more related to the question who than where I am from.     

Third Culture Kids,their diversity beliefs and their intercultural competences

Positive diversity beliefs are known to increase the effectiveness of diverse groups in organizations and society. Early cross-cultural experiences might facilitate developing these diversity beliefs. This study examined the relationship between being a third-culture kid (TCK) and one’s diversity beliefs, and the possible mediation of this relationship by intercultural competences.Data came from 1454 respondents, 17–19 years of age, who filled out the Intercultural Readiness Check (IRC) between 2011 and 2016 (49.1 % female, 50.9 % male). 65.0 % of the respondents had specified their nationality as Dutch, and 35.0 % had indicated a different nationality. 550 respondents (37.8 %) had spent one or more years abroad and were thus classified as TCKs. Their diversity beliefs were compared to 904 respondents (62.2 %) who had never lived abroad, and who therefore were classified as non-TCKs.A mediated regression analysis showed that TCKs had higher positive diversity beliefs than non-TCKs, and that this relationship was mediated by the degree to which they had developed specific intercultural competences, being intercultural sensitivity and building commitment. These findings show that early cross-cultural life experiences help individuals to develop intercultural competences and positive diversity beliefs. Equipped with these competences and beliefs, TCKs can add value to organizations and society.     

Humility and Bridging Differences: A Systematic Literature Review of Humility in Relation to Diversity

Psychologists’ interest in humility has increased in recent years. This paper provides the first review on the role of humility in the context of diversity. The results of the nine studies reviewed here, which were identified through a systematic literature search, show a lack of agreement among researchers on the conceptualisation of humility and how it can be measured. Additionally, humility has been found to be associated with less prejudice towards Syrian refuges, sexual minorities and religious groups. It also seems to play a positive role in the context of religious conflicts, disagreements and conflicting views. These promising findings on humility in relation to various domains of diversity are discussed, and the limitations of this review and recommendations for future research are provided.     

Pioneers across war zones: The lived acculturation experiences of US female military expatriates

This exploratory study focuses on the lived acculturation experiences of United States (US) female career military expatriates who worked and lived in combat settings across five war zones. Based on an analysis of oral histories that spanned over 60 years, the research revealed that these pioneering women had a strong commitment to their profession, and that this, along with camaraderie, facilitated their adaptation to living conditions characterized by extreme danger, nominal domestic comforts, and unrelenting work requirements in culturally unfamiliar contexts. The research identified the multiple physical and psychological stressors of living and working as a female in a war zone and the variety of coping strategies employed for acculturation, particularly the prominent role of relational support from family and friends, and a combination of personal coping mechanisms (such as crying or compartmentalization) and religious faith. As extant expatriate research has overwhelmingly focused on male executives in multinational corporations, this research is significant in extending the literature to an analysis of the public sector, specifically women deployed overseas in highly dangerous settings and who were pioneering in both their roles in the military and as non-traditional expatriates at a time when few women worked internationally.     

International conferences: Significant measures of success

This article reviews the literature on evaluating international conferences identifying significant factors which contribute to measured success. Extensive previous research over the last twenty years has identified criteria for evaluating success which continue to be ignored as international conferences repeat the same mistakes. More systematic research is needed. A framework of 25 evaluation measures is described for future research on the assessment of international conferences.Responses to three items of a questionnaire sent out by the East-West Culture Learning Institute as part of a project studying international conferences are also discussed, relating to evaluation measures, problems of evaluation and potential benefits of evaluation. Guidelines and suggestions are provided synthesizing the available research toward planning more successful international conferences in the future. In conclusion, six issues are identified for further clarification in future research on international conferences.     

What it means to be “one of us”: Discourses of national identity in the United States

In recent years, the transnational movement of people has resulted in increasing tension and debates about national identity. The present research utilized a discourse analytic approach to examine accounts of national identity in the U.S. among native-born U.S. residents, Mexicans living in Mexico, and Mexicans living in the U.S. Our analysis focused on two sets of diverging accounts of national identity. A first set involved participants' explanations of national identity as natural/essential, “felt”, or conditional, which served to either constrain how “American” immigrants could be or allowed for a more inclusive definition of national identity. A second set of accounts involved participants theorizing the national polity as a multicultural or monocultural space which functioned to construct national boundaries as permeable or reinforced (White) American dominance. These patterns of talk emerged across all interviews, although U.S. participants attended to more flexible and dilemmatic (e.g. inclusionary and exclusionary) accounts of national identity. We discuss the implications for the complexity of national identity.     

Equal-status interracial contact: A review and revision of the conceptContactos interraciales de status semejante: Un analisis y criterica del conceptoContact interracial à statut égal: Une revue et revision du concept

The existence of equal-status interracial interaction often has been taken for granted, despite the existence of negative and contradictory research results. A major problem lies in the fact that the equal-status concept has remained vague and inconsistently defined. In some cases, equal status has been defined as contact between selected members of rival groups who are matched on some variables such as socioeconomic status. In other instances, an attempt has been made to establish equal status positions, i.e., treating people as equals within the situation. The accumulation of evidence, however, suggests that equal status interracial contact is not so easily arranged. In this paper, a reformulation of the equal-status concept is proposed and a critical review of previous research is developed. Studies where equal status is confirmed, questionable, and nonexistent are differentiated. Many studies which obtained favorable results were found to have a questionable basis for claiming equal status, despite having done so. It is suggested here that these studies can be explained with reference to far less problematic variables that are also identified with the theory of contact, i.e., intimacy, common goals, institutional support, racial/ethnic balance, etc. Studies in which equal status is confirmed invariably result in positive change. Some research was uncovered in which the existence of equal status, although questionable, was maintained even in the face of negative results. A more critical and systematic approach is advised, and a reformulation of the equal status concept is offered.     

Heterogeneity in national identity construct: Example of Singapore using network analysis

Singapore has been undergoing a negotiation of its national identity as it celebrated its fifty years of independence. The seemingly lack of consensus on the nation’s identity has brought about much heated debates about Singapore’s governance. However, the construction of one’s definition of national identity is often shaped not by the political discourse but by what one has experienced in his or her formative years. Citizens who experienced different stages of nationhood are hence likely to develop different interpretations of what it means to be a citizen of the nation. In this study, using network analysis, we sought to examine how the definition of national identity differed between citizens who were born before Singapore’s independence, and hence experienced the early nation-building phase of the country, vis-à-vis citizens who were born after the country’s independence. 1000 native Singaporeans indicated which of the 27 identity markers were important for an immigrant to have to be accepted as a Singaporean. The analysis revealed that there were differences in the number of clusters within the identity networks of individuals born before versus after Singapore’s independence. The strength of the identity network of individuals born before independence was also stronger. Using simulated networks, we also showed how a change in endorsement of more influential markers had stronger effect on the overall identity network than a change in endorsement of less influential markers among individuals born before independence.     

Understanding arts audiences: existing data and what it tells us

Increasing public engagement with the arts is a core part of Arts Council England's mission. It is also a key objective of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. The need for evidence based policy in this area has led to the production of a number of new data sources, including the commissioning of the Taking Part survey, an in-depth survey of how people in England attend and participate in the arts, and the “arts debate”, a wide-reaching programme of qualitative research and consultation into people's attitudes to the arts and their funding. This article examines the benefits and pitfalls of the different kinds of data available, and what these new sources of evidence add to policy makers' understanding of how people engage with the arts in England. In particular, it explores how findings from the arts debate complement and build on the quantitative findings from Taking Part, and what implications this has for future research priorities.     

Review of Scottish Arts Council Report,Taking Part in Scotland 2008

The review looks at the 2008 report by the Scottish Arts Council (SAC) into audience involvement in the arts and culture in Scotland. It notes that the research is part of a continuing attempt by the SAC to map trends in audience participation in the arts, and that the survey often provides an in-depth account of how people spend their leisure time. However, it notes some deficiencies in its remit and questions whether the limitations of the report make it a valuable contribution to the SAC's future direction and policies.     

The cultural hybridity of Lena: A multi-method case study of a third culture kid

This study used a multi-method case study to explore the central paradox of global nomadism, that cultural hybrids seem at home in any cultural context, but feel at home only among others with a similar cultural history. The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) was used to provide a psychometric profile of Lena, an Adult Third Culture Kid. Lena presented an atypical and theoretically impossible IDI profile, simultaneously ethnocentric, with issues in Minimization, yet clearly ethnorelative, with no issue evident on the AA or EM scales. A series of in-depth interviews were conducted to explore these IDI results, their implications for the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS), which is the theoretical basis for the IDI, and whether they helped to explain the paradox of global nomadism. The interviews helped Lena to realise that although she was surrounded by people from different national backgrounds throughout her life, their shared cultural experience was stronger than their surface differences, resulting in a Minimization orientation of ‘beneath our superficial differences, people are basically all the same’.     

Visualizing the knowledge domain of intercultural competence research: A bibliometric analysis

As the volume of research on intercultural competence (ICC) increases greatly in the past twenty years, a systematic review of the diverse literature and its development process becomes essential. This study conducted a bibliometric analysis for the knowledge domain of intercultural competence by using 663 research articles on ICC spanning from 2000 to 2018 in Web of Science (WoS) database. Knowledge maps of ICC research were visualized by CiteSpace. The research findings show that in the field of ICC research, the number of published articles shows an ostensible upward trend in terms of temporal distribution since 2007; the first five highly cited countries are USA, China, Australia, Spain, and UK; International Journal of Intercultural Relations (IJIR) is found to be the most highly cited journal within the past twenty years; the first five highly cited authors are Michael Byram, Darla Deardorff, Claire Kramsch, Mitchell Hammer and Milton Bennett; Conceptualizing intercultural competence (Spitzberg & Changnon, 2009) is the most highly cited article; Blog entries, medical student, academic expatriate, and global management competencies are found to be top four ICC research hotspots. These findings provide considerable insights into research trend, topics, journals, authors and hotspots concerning ICC from the diachronic perspective. Visualization study of the ICC literature by formulating a graphical and explicit approach might be beneficial for researchers and scholars to track the development of ICC research.     

Intercultural interaction and the categorization process: A conceptual analysis and behavioral outcome

Intercultural interaction is seen as a situation in which the way others' behavior is categorized (that is, given meaning) is often inaccurate or inappropriate due to unfamiliar cues. These errors cause incorrect expectation, which other research has found to cause decreases in problem solving ability, adaptability, and health. A better understanding of this phenomena can be gained through an awareness of how information is believed to be organized in meaningful ways in human thought: information is classified (categorized) on the basis of similarity. Since people vary in their category “width,” an understanding of “category width” should give useful insight into intercultural inferences. A review of three studies in fact supports the validity of this categorization approach in making predictions about individual's reactions to people of other cultures at both the attitudinal and behavioral level. Overall, the concepts of categorization and category width are seen as unifying constructs which bring together not only a number of intercultural phenomena but also have implications for understanding and training individuals in an intercultural context.     

Meaning matters. An empirical analysis into public denotations of the label ‘strangers’ and their relationship with general ethnic prejudice

Survey research on ethnic prejudice often relies on statements focusing on generic labels such as ‘immigrants’, ‘strangers’, or ‘foreigners’. In this paper we argue that there are, however, good reasons to expect certain heterogeneity in the denotations respondents assign to these labels, and that the specific group respondents think of matters with respect to their response. We tested this assumption by using survey data from Flanders (the Dutch speaking part of Belgium, N = 1375) that includes an open-ended question asking respondents which groups they associate with the label ‘strangers’ (Dutch: ‘vreemdelingen’). Content analysis revealed that the ten different meanings people in Flanders give to this label can be organized into four main groups concerning the content of the criterion (nationality, culture, race, no answer/refusal) and two ways concerning how the criterion is used (strangers defined as ‘them’ versus ‘not us’). Regression analyses subsequently showed systematic differences in general ethnic prejudice depending on the meaning of strangers, with people in Flanders who associate strangers with Muslims or people from predominantly Muslim countries reporting the highest level of prejudice. Finally, our data suggests that that the group people in Flanders associate with the label stranger varies according to respondents' socio-demographic background. Not taking into account these different meanings of strangers might lead to an underestimation of the social differences in ethnic prejudice.     

Moralization of Japanese cultural norms among student sojourners in Japan

This study investigated the relationship between different domains of cultural adaptation among international students in Japan and the moralization of culture-specific norms. Newcomers may adapt certain norms of the host culture and ascribe moral meanings to initially nonmoral activities or objects. Building on the existing model of sociocultural adaptation, we investigated how different types of sociocultural adaptation are associated with the moralization of Japanese cultural norms. For international students in Japan, there are three aspects of sociocultural adaptation: academic, daily living, and interpersonal. Our results showed that cultural adaptation in the interpersonal domain, but not in the academic and daily living domains, predicted harsher moral judgments of behaviors that violated Japanese cultural norms. These findings suggest that international students who are well adjusted in the interpersonal domain gain an understanding of what is sanctioned in the Japanese cultural context and come to see certain behaviors as morally appropriate. We discuss several implications for further investigating the moralization of certain behaviors within the context of acculturation.     

A review of articles on multiculturalism in 35 years of IJIR

This article is a review of literature on multiculturalism in 35 years of publications in IJIR, spanning from the first issue of IJIR in 1977 to the current issue in May 2012. The review includes empirical and theoretical articles alone. Multiculturalism is discussed in light of demographic, policy, and psychological aspects. An inductive thematic analysis revealed four themes, namely, Multicultural Education, Attitudes toward Multiculturalism, Multicultural Interactions, and Multicultural Identity. Each of these themes is discussed, and the implications of the findings are explored. It is noted that policy and practice are yet to be refined to match the ideology of multiculturalism.     

A comparative study of African American and European American ethnic identity

Differences between African Americans and European Americans were examined to find how ethnic identity salience was enacted in interethnic conversations, A sample of 126 African Americans and 78 European Americans was recruited from the community using a snowball sampling method. First, different factor structures for the two groups indicated that African Americans conceptualize sociocultural and political identity as separate constructs while European Americans express a singular and social definition of ethnic identity and experience less identity salience than African Americans. Secondly, although our sample is small, those who used the label “African American” expressed greater political ethnic identity salience than those who used the label “Black”. This finding is consistent with others' research indicating a continuing trend toward a positive political posture for African Americans. Third, ethnic identity was found to be negatively related to interethnic communication satisfaction for European Americans. Stronger European American ethnic identity was related to less satisfying interethnic conversational outcomes in less intimate relationships. Ethnic identity salience showed no significant relationship to interethnic conversational outcomes for European Americans communicating with friends nor for African Americans no matter the relational distance.