Third Culture Kids

Third Culture Kids are known by many names: cultural hybrids, international sojourners, and global nomads. They grew up among diplomats, military personnel, missionary families, and international business people. Or simply within a family that moved around the world. A Third Culture Kid is a person who has spent a significant portion of their life outside their parents' culture. Someone who built a relationship to multiple cultures, while not having full ownership of any. This bestows immense benefits, cultural adaptability, increased tolerance, and a broadened worldview. However, this may also come at a cost. 

Sometimes highly mobile individuals may lack a sense of belonging, feel restless, have conflicted loyalties, and defused identities. Although masters of geographic transitions, Third Culture Kids may experience unresolved grief, continually looking toward their next move. I focus my practice on helping support children, adolescents, and adults navigate the Third Culture Kid experience. My work is largely informed by my own research into the developmental impact of a highly mobile upbringing.   

Recent Publications and Presentations

Gorman, I., Koval, S., Cultural Hybridity: Self-Monitoring and Ethnic Identity Commitment in Third Culture Kids. Poster presentation at the Association for Psychological Science in 2014, San Francisco, CA.