Developmental crisis episodes that occur during emerging adulthood, also known as quarter-life crises, are emotionally unstable times of transition that typically last around a year or two. This study aims to expand the cross-cultural focus on this topic, by assessing prevalence and brief written descriptions of early adult crisis in 18–29-year-olds from eight countries (UK, Greece, Czechia, Turkey, India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Brazil), with a total sample of N = 2,247, with the objective of exploring similarities and differences across cultures. Crisis prevalence rates found ranged from 40% to 77% per country. Thematic analysis of descriptions of crisis elicited external and internal crisis features. With regards to external features, the most prevalent were career transition, financial difficulties, studying based stress and struggle, and family difficulties. Internal features that were most prevalent were feeling fearful/anxious/worried, negative self-evaluation, feeling sad/down, and feelings of confusion/uncertainty. The findings align with existing research on early adult crisis, pointing to both cross-cultural similarities and differences.