Third-CultureKids

Didyougrowupinoneculture，yourparentscamefromanother，andyouarenowlivinginatotallydifferentcountry？Ifso，thenyouareathird-culturekid!

Theterm"third-culturekid"（orTCK）wascoinedinthe1960sbyDr．Ruth．ShefirstcameacrossthisphenomenonwhensheresearchedNorthAmericanchildrenlivinginIndia．Caughtbetweentwocultures，theyformtheirveryown．（36）___About90percentofthemhaveauniversitydegree，while40percentpursueapostgraduateordoctordegree．Theyusuallybenefitfromtheirinterculturalexperience，whichhelpsthemtogrowintosuccessfulacademicsandprofessionals．

（37）___Infactmanyhardshipsmayarisefromthisphenomenon．Athird-culturekidmaynotbeabletoadaptthemselvescompletelytotheirnewsurroundingsasexpected．Instead，theymayalwaysremainanoutsiderindifferenthostcultures．Max，forexample，experiencedthisfundamentalfeelingofstrangenessthroughouthislifeasathird-culturekid．（38）___Whilethiscanbeawaytocreateanetworkoffriendsallaroundtheworld，itcanbedifficultforathird-culturekidlikeMaxtomaintainclosefriendshipsandrelationships．

Forathird-culturekid，itisofteneasiertomovetoanewforeigncountrythantoreturntotheir"home"country．AfterlivinginAustraliaandSouthKoreaformanyyears，LouisfinallyreturnedtoTurkeyasateenager．Butshefeltoutofplacewhenshereturnedtothecountrywhereshewasborn．

（39）___Shedidnotsharethesamevaluesasherfriends'evenyearsaftergoingbackhome．

Whileathird-culturekidmustletgooftheiridentityasforeignerwhenhe/shereturns，thehomecountrycanprovetobemoreforeignthananythinghe/shecameacrossbefore．Thepeergrouptheyfacedoesnotmatchtheidealizedimagechildrenhaveof"home"．（40）___ Asapartofthegrowing"culture"，TCKsmayfinditagreatchallengeforthemtofeelathomeinmanyplaces．