Is he angry or maybe suffering from a quarter-life
crisis?
Callum and Kate learn about the
expression "quarter-life crisis" and how it compares to the more
well-known "mid-life crisis".
Are they the same thing or do the
young have different crises to the middle-aged?
This week's question
According to a recent survey held in Britain when does middle-age begin?
a: 35 years old
b: 40 years old
c: 45 years old
Listen out for the answer in the programme
Listen
Vocabulary:
a mid-life
crisis - anxiety and
depression that affects some people in their 40s or 50s as they become worried
about getting old and losing their youth
to be
status conscious - to
want to have a high material standard of living by, for example, owning the
latest gadgets and wearing fashionable clothes
student
debt - the money that young
people owe from the loans they took out to pay for their higher education
competitive
market job - a situation
where there are more qualified people looking for jobs than there are jobs
available
Callum:
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English, I'm Callum Robertson and with me today
is Kate. Hello Kate.
Kate:
Hello Callum.
Callum:
Now today a subject which I am far too old to know anything about and that's a
quarter-life crisis. Are you familiar with this term Kate?
Kate:
Yes, I think I have heard it. Though there is a much more common expression
'a mid-life crisis'
Callum:
Yes, I'm more familiar with that expression too! But quarter-life crises was a
new one for me, I only heard it for the first time this weekend just gone.
Today we'll be learning a bit more about this expression. But first, as always,
a question. There was a recent survey which asked people in Britain
a: 35 years old?
b: 40 years old?
c: 45 years old ?
Kate?
Kate:
Well I think people tend to think they're staying younger much longer these
days. So I'm going to go for c: 45 years old.
Callum:
We'll find out if you're right later on.
What is a quarter-life crisis? Well this phrase comes from
a more established phrase, which we were talking about before, a mid-life
crisis. So first, let's look at that phrase. Kate, what can you tell us about
the meaning of that phrase – a mid-life crisis?
Kate:
Well, a mid-life crisis describes the emotions of someone who is in their 40s
or
50s and who realises that they are more than half way
through their life. In other words they are beginning to realise that they are
getting old and are closer to death than to birth. For some this causes them to
become depressed or to look for ways to recapture their youth, to be young
again. So you might see a middle-aged man buying a leather jacket and a
motorbike, or leaving his wife for a much younger woman. These are some
examples of what people have described as symptoms of a mid-life crisis. But
essentially is a worry and fear of getting old.
Callum:
From your examples there it seems that it's only something that affects men. Is
that right?
Kate:
No, I think women are affected by it too. I think everyone worries about
getting old and becoming middle-aged and never going to be young again.
Callum:
So if that's a mid-life crisis, what's a quarter-life crisis? Damian Barr has
written a book about the subject and in an interview with the BBC he explains
what it is.
Damian
Barr
It's that kind of, you know, people asking who they
are, where they're going that are doing it in their twenties rather than their
forties. A lot of people being really depressed,very anxious and very kind of
status conscious in a way that their parents certainly were not.
Callum:
Kate, what was he saying there?
Kate: He was saying that it was something that
happened in people's 20s rather than 40s. Young people being worried about who
they are and what they were doing.
Callum:
He also mentioned that people were 'status conscious in a way that there
parents weren't'. What does he mean by that, being 'status conscious'?
Kate:
I think he was saying that young people feel a pressure that their parents
didn't
- a pressure to have the latest gadgets or most
fashionable clothes, for example.
These things seem to be more important now than in the
past. Young people are more 'status conscious'. These material things are seen
to give status.
Callum:
Let's listen again
Damian
Barr
....
Callum:
Apart from material pressures, what are other reasons for a quarter-life
crisis?
Here's Damian Barr again. How many different things
does he mention?
Damian
Barr
I think it's kind of caused by student debt,
unaffordable property and a really competitive jobs market in the recession.
Callum:
A few reasons there, could you run over them again for us?
Kate:
Oh dear! Yes, he mentioned three things: the first was student debt – the money
that young people owe from the loans they took out to pay for university
education. The second thing was unaffordable property – so it's very difficult
for young people to afford to buy a house or flat. The third thing was a very
competitive job market in the recession. So lots of qualified people are all
looking for jobs and there just aren't that many jobs around.
Callum:
Let's listen again.
Damian
Barr
.....
Callum:
Oh dear, it all sounds so depressing!
Kate:
Yes, doesn't it?
Callum:
But is this something new? Is this different from a mid-life crisis or is it
just the same thing but 20 years earlier?
Kate:
Well no, I actually think they're very different things. I think begin in your
20s is a very stressful time. I mean I remember being very worried about the
job market and finding a place to live. And I think a lot of my friends at the
time felt the same. And I think actually it's getting worse for the young
people now.
Callum:
Oh dear, how things have changed. I mean, there was always pressures but I
don't think when I was in my 20s I had the same kind of pressure that I think
young people feel themselves under these days. Just time now for the answer to
today's question. According to a recent survey in Britain
a: at 35?
b: at 40?
c: at 45?
Kate, you said?
Kate:
Well no one likes to think of themselves as middle-aged really, so I went for
the oldest option – c: 45 years old.
Callum:
Well, in fact the answer, according to this survey was a: 35 years old.
Kate:
Really? Gosh that seems very young to be middle-aged.
Callum:
I know, I don't feel middle-aged now myself and I'm, what, nearly 100.
That's all we have time for today, but do join us
again next time for another 6 Minute English. Good bye.
Kate:
Goodbye.
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