Note: MKs are a subset of TCKs whose parents are missionaries. TCKs also include children who live in other cultures due to their parents’ secular work or military placements.
Tanya Crossman spent 20 years doing 500 interviews and 5 large surveys of TCKs. From her findings, she highlights five key takeaways:
The vast majority of TCK have positive things to say about their experiences, even though they may in the same breath acknowledge that there were also difficulties.
Something the latest TCK Training research showed was that even many of the TCKs who had the most difficult experiences of childhood also saw positives in their upbringing.
When TCK Training asked TCKs about various childhood experiences connected to their parents’ work, they found that missionary kids (MKs) were much more likely to feel certain pressures when they were children than other TCKs.
Missionary kids are experiencing the impact of not only their own mental health struggles, but the struggles of their parents.
TCK Training’s 2024 survey of 1,643 adult TCKs representing 92 nationalities uncovered exciting information about the TCK experience.15 Their strengths align remarkably well with the skills needed to meet future challenges:
In 2019, Dr. Christina Bethell conducted a study of 6,188 people at Johns Hopkins to determine which childhood factors built resilience instead of fragility in adult mental health.16 The study showed that Positive Childhood Experiences, or PCEs, had a cumulative effect in that the more PCEs a child had, the greater their health in adulthood.
The seven PCEs are:17
Each of the PCEs centers on connection—starting with the primary caregiver and then extending to the wider community. Children who consistently had 6–7 PCEs were 72% less likely to develop mental illness in adulthood. Those who had 3–5 were 50% less likely to develop depression and poor mental health.18 Everyone plays a stewardship role in building vibrant childhoods—from parents, to peers, to the wider community.
We are grateful to TCK Training for these recommended resources for TCKs and their parents:
The above photo are printed with permission from the IMB.
1 Crossman, Tanya, et al. First Look: Data from the 2024 Survey, 45.
2 Crossman, Tanya. 2016. Misunderstood: The Impact of Growing Up Overseas in the 21st Century, 21.
3 Crossman, Tanya, et al. First Look: Data from the 2024 Survey, 45.
4 Crossman, Tanya, et al. 45.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid.
8 Crossman, Tanya, et al. 38.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid.
11 Crossman, Tanya, et al. 45.
12 Crossman, Tanya, et al. 65.
13 Ibid.
14 Crossman, Tanya, et al. 89.
15 Crossman, Tanya, et al. 52. Bethell C., et al. "Positive Childhood Experiences and Adult Mental and Relational Health in a Statewide Sample...", JAMA Pediatrics (2019): e193007. Accessed 02/01/2025.
16 pinetreeinstitute.org/positive-childhood-experiences/
17 Bethell C., et al. "Positive Childhood Experiences," JAMA Pediatrics (2019): e193007. Accessed 02/01/2025.
Tanya Crossman is an adult TCK who has worked with TCKs and globally mobile families for 20 years. She has overseen five large- scale surveys of TCKs (750-2,000 participants) and surveyed 500 TCKs. She serves as the Director of Research at TCK Training. She can be reached at [email protected].
Anna Danforth is a TCK Training instructor and presenter, author, and traveling speaker. She grew up as a missionary kid in Cameroon and now equips expat families and organizations. She can be reached at [email protected].
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