Quarter-life Crisis Episodes in Emerging Adulthood: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Data From Eight Countries


Robinson O. C., Petrov N., Vleioras G., Çok F., Özdoğan H. K., Yeler Z., ...Daha Fazla

Emerging Adulthood, cilt.13, sa.6, ss.1491-1506, 2025 (SSCI, Scopus) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 13 Sayı: 6
  • Basım Tarihi: 2025
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1177/21676968251380890
  • Dergi Adı: Emerging Adulthood
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Psycinfo
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1491-1506
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: brief text, crisis, early adulthood, emerging adulthood, mixed-methods, qualitative, quarter-life crisis, structured tabular thematic analysis
  • TED Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Developmental crisis episodes that occur during emerging adulthood, also known as quarter-life crises, are emotionally unstable times of transition that typically last around a year or two. This study aims to expand the cross-cultural focus on this topic, by assessing prevalence and brief written descriptions of early adult crisis in 18–29-year-olds from eight countries (UK, Greece, Czechia, Turkey, India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Brazil), with a total sample of N = 2,247, with the objective of exploring similarities and differences across cultures. Crisis prevalence rates found ranged from 40% to 77% per country. Thematic analysis of descriptions of crisis elicited external and internal crisis features. With regards to external features, the most prevalent were career transition, financial difficulties, studying-based stress and struggle, and family difficulties. Internal features that were most prevalent were feeling fearful/anxious/worried, negative self-evaluation, feeling sad/down, and feelings of confusion/uncertainty. The findings align with existing research on early adult crisis, pointing to both cross-cultural similarities and differences.