Is there a relationship between the timing of childhood relocations and the ability to establish a sense of ‘home’ during adulthood? Katia Mace k.mace@cantab.net Faculty of Education, Psychology & Education Group 1
1. Introduction • 1) Topic • 2) Motivation • 3) Methodology • 4) Descriptive statistics • 5) Analysis & results • 6) Explanation of results • 7) Helping TCKs find ‘home’ amidst global change 2
2. Topic Has the dominant focus of prior research on predominantly US, often ‘sponsored’ TCKs 1. generated a representation of TCI identity issues that are atypical of TCIs from other backgrounds? 2. Do US TCIs have significantly different ID score to non-US TCIs? 3. Is there a relationship between the timing of childhood relocations and ID scores? 4. Is there a relationship between the frequency of childhood relocations and ID scores? 5. Is there a relationship between repatriation and ID scores? Finding ‘Home’: Amidst Global Change – inner sense of ‘home’/ security within a cultural identity 3
3. Motivation • “Time by itself doesn’t determine how deep an impact the third culture experience has on the development of a particular child. Other variables such as the child’s age, personality, and participation in the local culture have an important effect. For example, living overseas between the ages of one and four will affect a child differently than if that same experience occurs between the ages of eleven and fourteen.” p 21. • Intuitive/heuristic knowledge. • Differing internal and external factors involved in relocation are different for different age groups. 4
4. Methodology • Cambridge Third Culture Individuals Study • Online questionnaire, snowball sampling – disseminated across social media • Demographic information and battery of 14 statements regarding identity and belonging • “I feel like I don’t belong in any culture”, “I’m struggling to determine who I am culturally”, “I don’t feel fully accepted in any culture” • “I feel secure in my cultural identity”, “I don’t feel confused about where I ‘fit in’”, • Developed & piloted: September 2013 – March 2014 • 2 quantitative pilot studies and cognitive interview • Data collection: March 2014 – August 2014 • Principal component analysis and reliability analysis: • Cultural Identity Security Scale (13 items) – Cronbach’s Alpha: 0.86 • Measure: subjective feeling of ‘being at home’ with ones ‘self’ – untroubled by questions of belonging/identity • ID scores: 13 - 65 5
5. Descriptive Statistics • Sample size: 2,118 (reduced from 2,491 – age, no. of relocations, etc.) • Over 18, experienced international relocation at least twice between birth and 18 having spent at least one year outside of their country of birth. • Participants aged 18 to 96 (Mean age: 35, Mode: 21) • Male: 517 (24%), Female: 1,601 (76%) • 73.6% 1 citizenship. 23.4% dual citizenship. 2.6% 3 citizenships. 0.4% 4 citizenships. • Number of relocations (between birth and age 18)ranged from 2 – 18 (Mean: 4.45, Mode: 2) • No. of countries lived in ranged from 2 to 13 (Mean: 3.62, Mode 3) • Current language use: 1, Language use prior to age 18: 2 (45.5%) • Repatriated: 785, repatriated multiple times: 879, ‘multiple migrants’: 454 6
104 nationalities represented! 7
6. Analysis and Results • Participants who experienced relocation at age ANOVA. IV: relos in adolescence, DV: ID score T-test. IV: age 6, DV: ID score 7 had significantly lower ID scores than those ANOVA. IV: relos in preadolescence, DV: ID score T-test. IV: age 7, DV: ID score who did not relocate aged 7 (p < 0.05) ANOVA. IV: relocations 0-6, DV: ID score T-test. IV: age 8, DV: ID score ANOVA. IV: relocations 7-10, DV: ID score T-test. IV: age 9, DV: ID score ANOVA. IV: relocations 11-12, DV: ID score T-test. IV: age 10, DV: ID score • Participants who experienced relocation at age ANOVA. IV: relocations 13-15, DV: ID score T-test. IV: age 11, DV: ID score 18 had significantly lower ID scores than those ANOVA. IV: relocations 16-18, DV: ID score T-test. IV: age 12, DV: ID score who did not relocate aged 18 (p < 0.000) T-test. IV: age 0, DV: ID score T-test. IV: age 13, DV: ID score T-test. IV: age 1, DV: ID score T-test. IV: age 14, DV: ID score T-test. IV: age 2, DV: ID score T-test. IV: age 15, DV: ID score T-test. IV: age 3, DV: ID score T-test. IV: age 16, DV: ID score • Focus interpretation on age 7, as age 18 is T-test. IV: age 4, DV: ID score T-test. IV: age 17, DV: ID score associated with repatriation: well-established body of literature. T-test. IV: age 5, DV: ID score T-test. IV: age 18, DV: ID score 8
9. Explaining the results • TCK experience ≠ theories of child development • Piaget, Erikson: theories written before • L.S. Vygotsky (1896 – 1934) • Culture – significant determinant of cognitive development • Stable periods – change is slow, constant, incremental and not very visible • C ritical periods: “abrupt, major shifts displacements, changes and discontinuities in the child’s personality, and are concentrated in a relatively short time”. 9
10. Vygotsky on ‘the crisis at age 7’ • Precipitated when the child enrols in formal schooling • Characterised by “the beginning of differentiation of the internal and external aspects of the child’s personality” • Awareness of your own consciousness and that of others is a useful skill (both for school work and to live amongst peers) • Being obsessively concerned with your own consciousness and how others perceive you is pathological • Relocation at age 7 coincides with a period of development when comparison and contrast come to the foreground in terms of mental activity (as a product both of mental maturation and social/academic demands). • Cultural shift brings contrasts into sharper focus Being overly conscious of one’s identity becomes an ingrained part of the child’s personality • 10
11. Age 18 • Repatriation: • 645 people relocated aged 18 (mean ID score: 36.33) • Totally number of participants who repatriated: 785 (mean ID score: 37.76) • Repatriation at a younger age provides more time for adjustment/acculturation • Managing expectations • Age 18: • Terri Apter: “The threshold years” (The Myth of Maturity: What Teenagers need from Parents to Become Adults”) 11
12. Helping TCKs find “home” amidst global change • Parents – assurance and security • School administrators, educators, councillors – special care should be taken with 7 year old TCK newcomers • Managing expectations about repatriation • Encouragement to feel part of a mobile community, celebration of differences, solidarity 12
13. Summary 1. The age at which someone relocates during childhood does influence their likelihood of experiencing identity issues later in life 2. TCKs who experience relocation aged 7 are more likely to experience identity issues than those who do not. 3. TCKs who experience relocation aged 18 are more likely to experience identity issues than those who do not. 4. Support from parents, educators, school councillors, encouragement to be part of TCK community. 13
Thank you for listening! k.mace@cantab.net 14
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