In popular psychology, a quarter-life crisis is a crisis "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. 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 quarter-life crisis occurs in one's twenties, after entering the "real world". 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 adults 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 for young adults to undergo stress or anxiety. 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 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.
In film
The notion of the quarter-life crisis is explored by the 1967 film The Graduate, 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; How to Be; Reality Bites; Garden State; Accepted; Ghost World; High Fidelity; Days of Summer; Lost in Translation; Silver Linings Playbook; Vicky Cristina Barcelona; and Shaun of the Dead; as well as the musical Avenue Q, in the television showThe Office, and the HBO television seriesGirls. The 2008 web seriesQuarterlife was so named for the phenomenon. Other movies exploring the quarter-life crisis include: Tiny Furniture, The Puffy Chair, Fight Club, Stranger than Fiction, Greenberg, Frances Ha and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. A 2014 comedy directed by Lynn Shelton titled Laggies delves into the complexities of a quarter-life crisis.
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. The 1975Fleetwood 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's song "True Love ", the opening track to their 2012 album Enjoy It While It Lasts, references a quarter-life crisis. "20 Something", the final track on SZAs 2017 album Ctrl, 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.
