ItemArticle

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

Title
Quarter-life Crisis Episodes in Emerging Adulthood: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Data From Eight Countries
Creator
Robinson, Oliver C.; Petrov, Nikolay; Vleioras, Georgios; k, Figen; do?an, H. Kra; Yeler, Zehra; Berber, Kra; Millova, Katarina; Sajjad, Saba; Dutra-Thom Luciana; Rahayu, Maria Nugraheni Mardi; Rasyida, Afinnisa; Aprodita, Nindya Putri; Mishra, Shefali; Sharma, Payal; Srivastava, Akancha; Dermitzaki, Irini; Spyrou, Anastasia; Mante, Emmanouela; Laila, Ume; Fisher, Amy
Description
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 1829-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. 2025 Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood and SAGE Publishing. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Source
Emerging Adulthood;Volume;13;Issue;6;pp.1491-1506
Date
01-01-2025
Publisher
SAGE Publications Inc.
Subject
brief text; crisis; early adulthood; emerging adulthood; mixed-methods; qualitative; quarter-life crisis; structured tabular thematic analysis
Coverage
Robinson O.C., School of Human Sciences, University of Greenwich, United Kingdom; Petrov N., Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom; Vleioras G., Department of Primary Education, University of Thessaly, Greece; k F., Department of Guidance and Psychological Counseling, Ba?kent University, Ankara, Turkey; do?an H.K., Department of Guidance and Psychological Counseling, Ba?kent University, Ankara, Turkey; Yeler Z., Department of Guidance and Psychological Counseling, TED University, Ankara, Turkey; Berber K., Department of Guidance and Psychological Counseling, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey; Millova K., Department of Psychology, University of Ostrava, Czech Republic; Sajjad S., Department of Clinical Psychology, International Institute of Science Arts and Technology, Pakistan; Dutra-ThomL., Institute of Psychology, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brazil; Rahayu M.N.M., Faculty of Psychology, Satya Wacana Christian University, Indonesia; Rasyida A., Faculty of Psychology, University of Surabaya, Indonesia; Aprodita N.P., Psychology Study Program, Bunda Mulia University, Indonesia; Mishra S., Department of Psychology, Christ University, Bangalore, India; Sharma P., Department of Psychology, Christ University, Bangalore, India; Srivastava A., Jindal School of Psychology & Counselling, O.P. Jindal Global University, India; Dermitzaki I., Department of Primary Education, University of Thessaly, Greece; Spyrou A., Department of Primary Education, University of Thessaly, Greece; Mante E., Department of Primary Education, University of Thessaly, Greece; Laila U., Humanities and Social Sciences Department, GIFT University, Pakistan; Fisher A., South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
Rights
All Open Access; Green Open Access; Hybrid Gold Open Access
Relation
ISSN: 21676968;
Format
online
Language
English
Type
Article

Citation

Robinson, Oliver C.; Petrov, Nikolay; Vleioras, Georgios; k, Figen; do?an, H. Kra; Yeler, Zehra; Berber, Kra; Millova, Katarina; Sajjad, Saba; Dutra-Thom Luciana; Rahayu, Maria Nugraheni Mardi; Rasyida, Afinnisa; Aprodita, Nindya Putri; Mishra, Shefali; Sharma, Payal; Srivastava, Akancha; Dermitzaki, Irini; Spyrou, Anastasia; Mante, Emmanouela; Laila, Ume; Fisher, Amy, “Quarter-life Crisis Episodes in Emerging Adulthood: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Data From Eight Countries,” CHRIST (Deemed To Be University) Institutional Repository, accessed June 19, 2026, https://archives.christuniversity.in/items/show/23181.

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