What is a Third Culture Kid?

The Origin of the Term

The term Third Culture Kid was coined in the 1950s by sociologist Ruth Hill Useem after spending time in India observing the children of American expatriates. She noticed that these children belonged neither fully to their parents’ home culture nor to the host culture they were living in. Instead they had developed something in between — a third culture that was their own.

The classic definition, from David Pollock and Ruth Van Reken, describes a TCK as “a person who has spent a significant part of their developmental years outside their parents’ culture.” The TCK builds relationships with multiple cultures while not having full ownership in any of them.

Who Counts as a TCK?

TCKs are typically the children of military families, missionaries, diplomats, international business workers, NGO staff, and international educators. What they share is that their parents’ career moved the family across cultures during the child’s developmental years, with the understanding that they would eventually return home.

• Did the family move internationally during the child’s developmental years?
• Did the child attend school and develop relationships in a culture other than their parents’ passport culture?
• Was the intention always to eventually return, rather than to permanently emigrate?
• Did the child absorb elements of multiple cultures without fully owning any of them?

What the Experience Feels Like

TCKs often describe a sense of belonging everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. They are comfortable crossing cultures, adapting to new environments, and building relationships quickly. They are also prone to a specific kind of grief — the accumulation of losses that are often invisible to those around them, because the lifestyle looks exciting from the outside.

• What does "where are you from" feel like to answer?
• How do you describe the specific type of loneliness that comes from nobody understanding your reference points?
• What is it like to feel most at home in airports, or in communities of other people who have moved a lot?
• How do you grieve the loss of places and people when the people around you think you should be excited about the next move?