What is a quarter-life crisis?

By No Rush · Updated October 20, 2026

The short answer

A quarter-life crisis is a hard stretch, often in your twenties, when you feel stuck in a job, study or relationship that no longer fits, or can't get into the life you want. It tends to last a year or two. It's common. In eight countries, 40 to 77 percent of people aged 18 to 29 said they had one.

What it looks like

In a 2025 study, 2,247 people aged 18 to 29 in eight countries described their crisis in a few lines. What happened around them was most often a change in work or study, money trouble, stress around studying, or problems in the family.

What they felt was most often worry and fear, being hard on themselves, feeling down, and not knowing what to do.

Two forms

Psychologist Oliver Robinson found two forms in his interviews. Some people are stuck in something they want to leave. Others can't get into the work or the life they want. Each form needs a different first step, so No Rush asks early on which one fits you.

Locked in

You're in a job, a study or a relationship that no longer fits, and you feel you can't leave. Here the first question is what keeps you there, for example money, other people or fear.

Locked out

You want work, a study or a place of your own, but the door stays closed, for example after many rejections. Here solid ground comes first, like a daily rhythm and enough money to live on.

The four phases

Robinson's model from 2013 describes four phases. First you're stuck in a life that doesn't fit. Then you step out of it, or take time out. After that you explore and try things. In the last phase you build something new.

The model comes from interviews with people about a crisis between the ages of 25 and 35, so it describes how it often goes. It can go wrong when someone skips the exploring and jumps into something new for the same reasons as before. That's why No Rush works with small steps you can try first.

How common it is

In the eight-country study, the share of people who said they had had a quarter-life crisis ranged from about four in ten in the United Kingdom and Greece to almost eight in ten in Indonesia. The researchers write that such a crisis usually lasts around a year or two.

Quarter-life crisis is a term from research and everyday speech. Doctors don't use it as a diagnosis.

One thing for today

Tonight, write down which of the two forms fits you best. Then add one reason you're still there, or one thing that keeps the door closed. For example: I'm stuck in my job. I stay for the money.

If you know someone in their thirties, ask whether they had a stretch like this, and what their first step out was.

No Rush app

An iPhone app for people who feel stuck. It sets out one small next step at a time and tells you why that one. It is not therapy.

Sign up free Take the test For iPhone. Coming soon to the App Store. The first seven days are free in the app. After that, you choose whether to subscribe. Sign up now and the app stays free for you, for life.

Sources

Robinson et al. (2025). Quarter-life crisis episodes in emerging adulthood: a mixed-methods analysis of data from eight countries. Emerging Adulthood, 13, 1491-1506. doi.org/10.1177/21676968251380890
Robinson, Wright & Smith (2013). The holistic phase model of early adult crisis. Journal of Adult Development, 20, 27-37. doi.org/10.1007/s10804-013-9153-y
Robinson (2019). A longitudinal mixed-methods case study of quarter-life crisis during the post-university transition: locked-out and locked-in forms in combination. Emerging Adulthood, 7(3), 167-179. doi.org/10.1177/2167696818764144