popular psychology Popular psychology (sometimes shortened as pop psychology or pop psych) is the concepts and theories about human mental life and behavior that are purportedly based on psychology and that find credence among and pass muster with the populace. The ...

, a quarter-life crisis is a

crisis A crisis ( : crises; : critical) is either any event or period that will (or might) lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affair ...

"involving anxiety over the direction and quality of one's life" which is most commonly experienced in a period ranging from a person's early twenties up to their mid-thirties (although a quarter-life crisis can begin as early as 18)."The age you're most likely to have a quarter-life crisis"
''The Independent''. Rachel Hosie. 15 November 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2018. It is defined by clinical psychologist Alex Fowke as "a period of insecurity, doubt and disappointment surrounding your career, relationships and financial situation".

Aspects

According to Meredith Goldstein of ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', the ''quarter-life crisis'' occurs in one's twenties, after entering the "real world" (i.e., after graduating college, and/or after moving out of the family home). German psychologist Erik Erikson, who proposed eight crises that humans face during their development, proposed the existence of a life crisis occurring at this age. The conflict he associated with young adulthood is the ''Intimacy vs. Isolation'' crisis. According to Erikson, after establishing a personal identity in adolescence,

young adult A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...

s seek to form intense, usually romantic relationships with other people. Common symptoms of a quarter-life crisis are often feelings of being "lost, scared, lonely or confused" about what steps to take in early adulthood. Studies have shown that unemployment and choosing a career path is a major cause of stress and anxiety in young adults. Early stages of one living on their own for the first time and learning to cope without parental help can also induce feelings of isolation and loneliness. Re-evaluation of one's close personal relationships can also be a factor, with sufferers feeling they have outgrown their partner or believing others may be more suitable for them. Recently, millennials have occasionally been referred to as the ''

Boomerang Generation Boomerang Generation, in Western culture, is the generation of young adults graduating high school and college in the 21st century. They are so named for the percentage of whom choose to share a home with their parents after previously living on t ...

'' or '' Peter Pan Generation'', because of the members' perceived penchant for delaying some rites of passage into adulthood for longer periods than previous generations. These labels were also a reference to a trend toward members returning home after college and/or living with their parents for longer periods than previous generations. These tendencies might also be partly explained by changes in external social factors rather than characteristics intrinsic to millennials (e.g., higher levels of

student loan A student loan is a type of loan designed to help students pay for post-secondary education and the associated fees, such as tuition, books and supplies, and living expenses. It may differ from other types of loans in the fact that the interest r ...

debt in the US among millennials when compared to earlier generations can make it more difficult for young adults to achieve traditional markers of independence such as marriage, home ownership or investing).

In film

The notion of the quarter-life crisis is explored by the 1967 film ''

The Graduate ''The Graduate'' is a 1967 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols and written by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham, based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from W ...

'', one of the first film depictions of this issue. Other notable films that also do so are '' Bright Lights, Big City''; '' The Paper Chase''; ''

St. Elmo's Fire St. Elmo's fire — also called Witchfire or Witch's Fire — is a weather phenomenon in which luminous plasma is created by a corona discharge from a rod-like object such as a mast, spire, chimney, or animal hornHeidorn, K., Weather Element ...

''; '' How to Be''; ''

Reality Bites ''Reality Bites'' is a 1994 American romantic comedy-drama film written by Helen Childress and directed by Ben Stiller, in his directorial debut. It stars Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke and Stiller, with supporting roles by Janeane Garofalo and St ...

''; '' Garden State''; ''

Accepted ''Accepted'' is a 2006 American comedy film directed by Steve Pink (in his directorial debut) and written by Adam Cooper, Bill Collage and Mark Perez. The plot follows a group of high school graduates who create their own fake college after bei ...

''; '' Ghost World''; '' High Fidelity''; ''

(500) Days of Summer ''500 Days of Summer'' (stylized as ''(500) Days of Summer'') is a 2009 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, and produced by Mark Waters. The film stars ...

''; '' Lost in Translation''; ''

Silver Linings Playbook ''Silver Linings Playbook'' is a 2012 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by David O. Russell. The film was based on Matthew Quick’s 2008 novel '' The Silver Linings Playbook''. It stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Law ...

''; ''

Vicky Cristina Barcelona ''Vicky Cristina Barcelona'' is a 2008 romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. The film stars Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson in lead roles. The plot centers on two American women, Vick ...

''; ''

Amélie ''Amélie'' (also known as ''Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain''; ; en, The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain, italic=yes) is a 2001 French-language romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Written by Jeunet with Guillaume La ...

''; and ''

Shaun of the Dead ''Shaun of the Dead'' is a 2004 zombie comedy film directed by Edgar Wright and written by Wright and Simon Pegg. Pegg stars as Shaun, a downtrodden salesman in London who is caught in a zombie apocalypse with his friend Ed ( Nick Frost). The ...

''; as well as the musical '' Avenue Q'', in the television show ''

The Office ''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries. The original series o ...

'', and the HBO television series ''

Girls A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a ''woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.c ...

''. The 2008 web series ''

Quarterlife ''Quarterlife'' (stylized as ''quarterlife'') is an American web series, also briefly an NBC television series in 2008, created by Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, the creators of '' Thirtysomething'' and ''Once and Again'', and producers of ...

'' was so named for the phenomenon. Other movies exploring the quarter-life crisis include: ''

Tiny Furniture ''Tiny Furniture'' is a 2010 American comedy-drama film written, directed by, and starring Lena Dunham. The film premiered at South by Southwest, where it won the award for Best Narrative Feature, screened at such festivals as Maryland Film Fes ...

'', ''

The Puffy Chair ''The Puffy Chair'' is a 2005 mumblecore road film written and directed by Jay and Mark Duplass. It stars Mark Duplass, Katie Aselton and Rhett Wilkins. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2005, and went on to ...

'', ''

Fight Club ''Fight Club'' is a 1999 American film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. It is based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. Norton plays the unnamed narrator, who is d ...

'', '' Stranger than Fiction'', '' Greenberg'', ''

Frances Ha ''Frances Ha'' is a 2012 American black and white comedy-drama film, directed by Noah Baumbach and written by Baumbach and Greta Gerwig. Gerwig also plays the title role, a struggling 27-year-old dancer. The film premiered at the Telluride Film ...

'' and '' Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind''. A 2014 comedy directed by Lynn Shelton titled ''

Laggies ''Laggies'' (released in the United Kingdom as ''Say When'') is a 2014 American romantic comedy film directed by Lynn Shelton and written by Andrea Seigel. It stars Keira Knightley, Chloë Grace Moretz, Sam Rockwell, Kaitlyn Dever, Jeff Garlin, ...

'' delves into the complexities of a quarter-life crisis. The 2nd season of 2021's ''Cubicles'' revolved majorly on quarter life crisis psychology, its symptoms, effects and ways to deal with them.

In music

The 2003 John Mayer single " Why Georgia" explores the concept of a quarter-life crisis. The song was based upon John Mayer's experiences during this age period, when he moved to

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. The 1975 Fleetwood Mac song " Landslide", written by Stevie Nicks in her late twenties, explores many of the self-doubts and fears of the quarter-life crisis, at a time when Nicks professed to be uncertain about her musical career and her romantic life. English indie rock band

Spector Spector is a guitar manufacturing company. It has been based in Woodstock, New York Woodstock is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of Kingston, NY. It lies within the borders ...

's song "True Love (For Now)", the opening track to their 2012 album '' Enjoy It While It Lasts'', references a quarter-life crisis. "20 Something", the final track on '' SZA''s 2017 album

Ctrl In computing, a Control key is a modifier key which, when pressed in conjunction with another key, performs a special operation (for example, ); similar to the Shift key, the Control key rarely performs any function when pressed by itself. ...

, delves into the many insecurities she experienced in her twenties, both personal and professional, and the urgency she felt to make the most of her life before entering into mature adulthood. In the album "Pep talks" by Judah & the Lion lead single “Quarter-Life Crisis” is about the ensuing rootlessness and insecurity that Akers, band's lead vocalist, felt during his twenties, caused by loss of his aunt and his parent's divorce. The 2020 released EP "Young Life Crisis" by

UPSAHL Taylor Cameron Upsahl (; born November 28, 1998), known mononymously as Upsahl (stylized as UPSAHL), is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Her debut album, ''Lady Jesus'', was released in 2021. Early life Born and rais ...

is about a breakup, lost friendships and a canceled tour, all during the coronavirus pandemic and the uncertainness around her life.{{cite web, url=http://www.womeninpop.com/news-home/interview-upsahl-releases-new-ep-young-life-crisis, title=INTERVIEW: UPSAHL releases new EP 'Young Life Crisis': "This EP Is the most honest and vulnerable I've gotten with any of my songs...I'm hoping people relate to it in some way, shape or form."

References

{{reflist

External links

Does graduation mark the start of your quarter-life crisis?

Life is hard when you're in your 20s
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BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

Quarter Life Crisis And How To Beat It - Article By Divya Toshniwal
{{Young adult development {{DEFAULTSORT:Quarter-Life Crisis Human development Young adult

Aspects

In film

In music

See also

References

Further reading

External links