Children who cross cultures

The subject of this study is the effects of transcultural sojourn and culture shock on the psycho-social development and school achievement of Dutch children. One hundred and three Dutch children in the age range 6–17 years who stayed abroad with their parents for at least two years and returned to Holland were compared with 81 Dutch classmates of the same age and sex. The class teacher and parent(s) were the informants. The transcultural group showed more behavioural problems on the Dutch version of the Child Behavior Checklist developed by Achenbach. Parents of the transcultural group regarded their children on a modified Graham & Rutter questionnaire as less happy than the control parents. However, no differences were found for academic achievement or problem behaviour at school as assessed by the teacher version of the CBCL, the ‘Teacher's Report Form’ (TRF). Organizations which send their employees abroad should direct more attention to employees' children. Attention given by parents and teachers to language problems and school performance should not pre-empt close attention to the psycho-social development of children.