Trans Cultual Kids

As a sociology major I'm interested in the way people relate to society. After reading a Facebook post from a friend who is a missionary in a small village half way around the world who is coming "home" later this year I was wondering how easy it will be for her four children to adapt to this culture they are familiar with, yet it is so foreign to them. I wanted to check out some statistics and although Wikipedia is not the most scholastic source, it does give a general idea. While reading through the Trans Cultural Kid's article I realized... dude, this describes me (minus the language part)! Who knew I was a trans cultural kid???

My response to each statistic is in parenthesis and bolded. Everything else is straight from Wikipedia. 

Statistics (U.S. TCKs)

Research has been done on American TCKs to identify various characteristics:[10][17][18]

[edit]Sociopsychology

• 90% feel "out of sync" with their peers.[19] (I'm not sure if this is the same out of sync as a MK would feel, but there are times I don't feel like I "fit in" with those of my same age)
• 90% report feeling as if they understand other people and cultural groups better than the average American.[20] (I do have a wider sense for other people and cultures, thus the reason I chose sociology as my major)
• 80% believe they can get along with anybody, and they often do, due to their sociocultural adaptability.[20] (I do get along with anybody.)
• Divorce rates among TCKs are lower than the general population, but TCKs marry at an older age (25+).[21][22] (Divorce rate... that's a good thing. Marriage at an older age.... well I am in the 25+ range now)
• More welcoming of others into their community.[18] (The more the merrier!)
• Lack a sense of "where home is", but are often nationalistic.[18][20] (Well, I do consider OC my home, but I'm totally cool with moving to another country and never returning to the US. I'm just waiting to see what God wants as far as where I'll be going)

[edit]Cognitive and emotional development

• Teenage TCKs are more mature than non-TCKs, but in their twenties take longer than their peers to focus their aims.[19] (What? You mean being in advance classes and told you're a mature teenager doesn't mean that you'll take 10.5 years to get your bachelors degree? I thought that's how it was suppose to be!?!)
• Depression is comparatively prevalent among TCKs.[19] (Could this be due to the fact it takes so long to "focus their aims?")
• TCKs' sense of identity and well-being is directly and negatively affected by repatriation.[23] (I don't have experience with this... but shoot I'm surprised since everything else seems to be describing me!)
• TCKs are highly linguistically adept (not as true for military TCKs).[21] (oh, well, maybe I'm not as much of a TCK as it seems)

• A study whose subjects were all "career military brats"—those who had a parent in the military from birth through high school—shows that brats are linguistically adept.[24] (but maybe my parents were secret military people for part of my childhood???)

• Like all children, TCKs may experience stress and even grief from the relocation experience.[25][26] (And this is where the comparison stops.)

[edit]Education and career

• TCKs are 4 times as likely as non-TCKs to earn a bachelor's degree (81% vs 21%)[27] (Check!!!)
• 40% earn an advanced degree (as compared to 5% of the non-TCK population.)[21] (Um, no thanks)
• 45% of TCKs attended three universities before attaining a degree.[21] (What, you mean it's NOT normal to attend three universities and one junior college?)
• 44% earned undergraduate degree after the age of 22.[21] (HA HA HA HA... and we thought the comparison had ended!)
• Education, medicine, business management, self-employment, and highly-skilled positions are the most common professions for TCKs.[21] (Well, I'm still not quite sure what I'll be doing, but apparently I should look into these careers)
• TCKs are unlikely to work for big business, government, or follow their parents' career choices. "One won't find many TCKs in large corporations. Nor are there many in government ... they have not followed in parental footsteps".[21] (Well, that's for sure! Even though many with my degree go to work for the government I'm hesitant and I'm not fully sure why... apparently it's because I was secretly a TCK)

Obviously in any study one can find themselves in what ever it is they are studying, but it just made me laugh at the "later in life" stuff. It reminds me of when I was taking my abnormal psychology class... I was convinced I had schizophrenia for half of the semester! Funny how after that class all my symptoms of schizophrenia went away... let alone the fact that I’ve past the age where schizophrenia first occurs in women so it would have shown up earlier in my life not just during this class! Anyhow, I found this funny and interesting and thought I’d share.