Girvan, ErikAlboszta, Agnieszka2022-10-262022-10-262022-10-26https://hdl.handle.net/1794/27750This thesis presents a comparative mixed methods study that addressed the broad question: Do internationally mobile individuals, often considered global citizens, identify differently with the dominant culture and possess unique conflict styles and perspectives on global conflict? The study set side by side five college-aged individuals who had grown up in one place in the United States and five college-aged US-born third culture individuals (TCIs), who had spent at least one year growing up abroad. Quantitative measures consisted of the Inclusion of Other in Self scale (Aron, 1992) coupled with the PolVan Cultural Identity Model (Van Reken, 1996), Rahim’s ROCI-II measure (1983), and the Automated Integrative Complexity tool (Conway, 2014; Houck et al., 2014). Semi-structured interviews constituted the qualitative measure. Findings showed that TCIs do not differ markedly in their identification with the surrounding culture from domestically brought up persons, and though interview responses revealed distinctive “distance creating elements,” these all pointed to an underlying sense of not understanding and/or not being understood by members of the dominant culture, a sentiment shared by individuals in both groups. Additionally, it was shown that TCIs and domestic individuals differed little on their preferred conflict style, with the exception of an elevated tendency of TCIs toward obliging, and an inclination to adjust conflict behavior when dealing with foreigners. Setting identity results from the Inclusion of Other in Self (Aron, 1992) measure next to preferred conflict style results (Rahim, 1983) yielded a very loose, similar pattern across groups. Further, there were similar perspectives on the US conflict style and actions it has taken/is taking in two particular world conflicts. A noteworthy distinction was uncovered in the higher average integral complexity scores of TCIs, supporting earlier research findings that integrative complexity is elevated in persons who have experienced unfamiliar environments and cultures. Overall, this study suggests that identification with the dominant culture, conflict styles, and perspectives on conflict are not delineating factors in the TCI population, and anyone from either population interested in solving problems peaceably could benefit from conflict resolution theory and practice.en-USAll Rights Reserved.Electronic Thesis or Dissertation