Abstract
Coined in the 1950s, Third Culture Kids (TCKs) are the children of Expatriates, who grow up in between both their home and their host cultures, i.e., within a Third Culture. While some research has been done in in the past, many studies neglect to account for the heterogeneity between the four different subgroups (1. Missionary Kids, 2. Military Brats, 3. Foreign Service Kids and 4. Corporate Brats) of TCKs, as well as the long-term effects of growing up in the Third Culture. Therefore, this study exclusively focuses on the subgroup of former American military TCKs, children whose parents worked in or for the military and who were stationed abroad with their families. Past findings on Military Kids do not seem to distinguish between those individuals that experienced living abroad during childhood, thus making them TCKs and those that did not. Consequently, the conceptualization of former overseas experienced Military Kids as TCKs has been lacking. Through semi-structured qualitative interviews and a qualitative content analysis, this study explores how growing up in the military Third Culture has impacted former military TCKs in their career choices in adulthood. This study aims to bring together both findings from literature on TCKs, as well as domestic American military children in order to explore the specific long-term effects an upbringing in the American Military Third Culture may have on career paths in adulthood. Findings resulting from this study may be useful to better understand the Third Culture experience and its subgroup specific impacts.