Emerging Adulthood: the quarter-life crisisa nd other major themes

The diploma thesis deals with the period of young adulthood, its experience, and the important topics that accompany it. The period is examined through the theoretical concepts of "emerging adulthood" and "quarter-life crisis". The theoretical part of the thesis defines the current concept of adulthood and then mentions relevant psychological theories (E. H. Erikson; J. Marcia; D. Levinson; J. J. Arnett or O. Robinson). The practical part reports on the progress and results of a research study based on the principles of qualitative methodology. Eight individual semi-structured interviews have been conducted in the first phase. The research sample consists of a group of women and men aged 25-30, childless with a minimum education at the secondary school level. The recorded interviews were then subjected to a thematic analysis in the second phase. The result of the study is a comprehensive description of seven topics related to adulthood. Topics include a summary of the research participants' definitions of adulthood; notion of their own maturity or maturity in relation to other people. The results further reflect the familiarity and experience of the research group with the quarter-life crisis phenomenon. KEYWORDS quarter-life crisis; emerging adulthood; young adults; development crisis; thematic..