Oprah dedicated a show to it, bloggers have ranted about it, and punk bands on both coasts have named themselves after it. It even has its own shelf in the self-help section of the bookstore. There's no question that the 'quarterlife crisis' -- a term referring to the emotional upheaval experienced by many in their 20s -- has morphed beyond a catchy phrase into a bona fide social trend. Some even predict that it will eclipse midlife as the crisis du jour.

But it is real? Today's young adults are admittedly not the first twentysomethings to grapple with postcollegiate angst and disillusion. The 1967 film classic The Graduate suggested that, for the Boomer generation, a certain amount of confusion and fear were part and parcel of the transition to adulthood. But the challenges confronting today's graduates are arguably different from those their parents faced.

In fact, the very transition period from adolescence to adulthood has become more significant and prolonged, according to a 2003 report from the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center. Most Americans, the report shows, believe 'adulthood' doesn't begin until age 26, with college-educated Americans pushing that number even higher, to 28 or 29.

If adolescence ends before 20, and full-fledged adulthood doesn't start until near 30, it's no wonder that many of today's twentysomethings are experiencing a discomforting sense of instability. Jeffrey Arnett, research associate professor of human development at the University of Maryland, calls this limbo period 'emerging adulthood.' Arnett believes that a societal shift over the past 50 years has led to a new generation of young people who are delaying the traditional rites of passage into adulthood. They are taking longer to finish school, are exploring more relationship options before committing to marriage and kids, and are inclined to hop from career to career and from city to city. Add to this mix increased student loan debt, a sluggish economy, and an anemic job market -- not to mention average twentysomethings' self-induced pressure to maintain or exceed the level of affluence they grew up with -- and a quarterlife crisis begins to make sense.

'I believe that the quarterlife crisis will essentially replace the midlife crisis for our generation,' Abby Wilner, coauthor of the New York Times best-seller Quarterlife Crisis: The Unique Challenges of Life in Your Twenties (J.P. Tarcher), recently told The Sydney Morning Herald (March 9, 2004). 'It's taking us so long to get all that our parents complained about at midlife -- the house, car, and kids -- that once we do finally settle down, we'll feel so relieved that I don't think we'll want to change anything.'