The Quarter-Life Crisis: does it exist, and does that matter?

I've been working with one of my career coaching graduates (Hiba Dabis) on a paper about the Quarter Life crisis, and I've come to the conclusion that this concept is a useful addition to the career coach's understanding of career development.

The quarter life crisis is something that some people experience early on in adult hood (there is also research into the "turning 30 crisis" which is very similar but where the turning 30 crisis relates specifically to age, the quarterlife crisis is defined more by experiences). It's a crisis of identity and usually occurs when people start to feel that the life they are leading is incongruous with the adult that they are. It's often seen in people who have ended up following a career path that was highly influenced by their parents, school or peer group, and in individuals who perhaps didn't have a high degree of self-clarity in their late adolescence. Those going through a quarter-life crisis experience self-doubt, struggle with self-esteem and question their decisions. This can lead to insecurity, confusion, loneliness and a great feeling of isolation.

Rossi and Mebert had a look at a group of young people in 2011 and found no support for the concept of a quarter life crisis. They found that all the different emotions associated with this time of life could be explained by other factors, with depression and levels of job and life satisfaction being predicted by social and family support, income and identity development. Their research concludes that young adults may be depressed or have low job satisfaction, but this is no different from depression and job satisfaction at any other stage in life.

But I can't help but thinking that Rossi and Mebert were asking the wrong question. From the perspective of a coaching practitioner, one of the really useful applications of a theory is that it can help clients to normalise their experiences, which in turn can help them to accept their situation, validate their emotional responses and can reduce feelings of isolation.  It is clearly helpful for practitioners to have some understanding of the antecedents of some of the emotional elements of the quarterlife crisis. If we know that social support is linked to enhanced life and job experience, and a clear sense of identity is likely to reduce depression, then these can point towards particular discussions and interventions to help. But I would also suggest that some of the feelings of isolation, self-doubt and the sense of failure experienced by many young adults might be softened a little by the understanding that their situation is not unique, and that the idea of a 'quarterlife crisis' is experienced and resolved by many.

Thinking back to my own crisis of identity in my mid-twenties, I can't help by think that knowing that my inability to define myself and my sense of loss and confusion were part of a tried and tested developmental path might have made me feel less isolated and less of a failure.

I do appreciate the importance of academic rigour when we try to identify concepts within psychology, but I also think it's incumbent on us as coaches to think about how we can use the academic research to best effect with our clients.


Dabis, H. (2013) Navigating the Stormy Seas of the Quarterlife crisis MA Dissertation University of East London
Rossi, N. E., & Mebert, C. J. (2011). Does a Quarterlife Crisis Exist?. Journal Of Genetic Psychology, 172(2), 141-161