The Relationship Between Self-Efficacy and Quarter-Life Crisis Mediated by Loneliness in University Students in Sidoarjo

Abstract

The quarter-life crisis is an emotional crisis characterized by feelings of helplessness, self-doubt, fear, and anxiety about the future. This study aims to examine the relationship between self-efficacy and the quarter-life crisis with loneliness as a mediator among final-year college students in Sidoarjo. A non-experimental correlational quantitative method was used on 342 final-year college students. Data were collected using three instruments: a quarter-life crisis scale (α = .769), a loneliness scale (α = .837), and a self-efficacy scale (α = .819). The results showed that self-efficacy had no direct effect on the quarter-life crisis (β = 0.029, p > .05), but had an indirect effect through the loneliness variable (β = –0.034, p < .05). In addition, loneliness was found to have a positive and significant effect on the quarter-life crisis (β = 0.260, p < .001). Loneliness acted as a full mediator in the relationship between self-efficacy and quarter-life crisis, confirming that psychosocial factors, such as loneliness, play a stronger role than internal factors, such as self-efficacy, in influencing quarter-life crisis among college students.