“Third Culture Kids’ Digital Environments and Mental Health”
Project Team
Lead applicant: Dr Laura Cariola, University of Edinburgh
Co-applicants/partners:
Dr Kareena McAloney-Kocaman, Glasgow Caledonian University
Dr Billy Lee, University of Edinburgh
Moira Leslie, Royal Caledonian Education Trust
Katie Rigg, Council of International Schools
Project summary
The term “Third Culture Kid” (TCK) describes children whose parents are in globally mobile employment, such as members of the armed forces, missionaries, and intergovernmental employees (Pollock & Van Reken, 1999/2009). TCKs accompany their parents, resulting in a transnational lifestyle that is constantly in flux. As such, TCKs tend to have unstable in-person networks with often only their parents as a constant in their lives. To maintain a sense of belonging and connectivity with their peers who share similar lived experiences, TCKs largely rely on digital technologies, including social media. Using an online-facilitated community-based participatory approach to better understand a largely under-researched youth population, we aim to answer the following research questions:
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How do TCKs engage and negotiate the interplay between online and in-person support networks?
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Specifically, how do TCKs use and experience digital technology differently to mono-cultural children?
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How do TCKs perceive the risks and opportunities of using digital technology, and how can these risks be minimised and the benefits enhanced?
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How do TCKs experience the relationship between their use of digital technologies and their mental health?
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What training do families and professionals need to support TCKs’ safe use of digital technologies and positive mental health?
