Ward
Third Culture Kids, Unresolved Grief and Resilience
Amelia Ward
Abstract
Common symptoms experienced by Third Culture Kids during later adolescence include
anxiety, depression, sadness, loneliness, social isolation, and lack of a sense of belonging. These
issues arise primarily from what Willmer (1984) identified as the two greatest challenges for
TCKs: questions of identity and coping with grief. Questions of identity arise from the
impermanence of TCKs’ social and cultural identity due to frequent cultural transition, as well as
the inability to communicate their unique experiences to peers. Unresolved grief often arises
from lack of discussion surrounding the accumulated losses that TCKs experienced during
developmental years. Further understanding of the effect of these two issues may pave the way
for interventions aimed at decreasing adverse outcomes among TCKs in later adolescence.
Keywords: grief, resilience, multicultural.