Quarter-Life Crisis During the Pandemic: Career Indecision, Intolerance of Uncertainty and Mental Well-Being in Emerging Adults

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a period of uncertainty and has had significant psychological impacts on emerging adults, especially in the education and employment sector. This research paper focused on studying the emerging adults in India during the pandemic. The three variables under study are intolerance of uncertainty, mental well-being, and career indecision. The sample consisted of college students across India between the age of 18 and 25. The tools used in this research were the Intolerance of Uncertainty scale- short form (IUS-12), Short-Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (SWEMBS), and Career Decision Scale (CDS). Correlation and Regression methods of analysis were used to examine found significant relationships between intolerance of uncertainty and career indecision and mental well-being and career indecision. Career Indecision mediated the relationship between Intolerance of Uncertainty and Mental Well-being aligning with the concept of Quarter-life crisis.