For many children the transition from primary to secondary school is an important event in life. Little is known about children’s concerns and expectations about the new school prior to this transition. Therefore, the present study, which is part of the Vienna School Transition Study (VSTS), investigated this subject. Children ( N = 856) were asked to appraise the transition to secondary school, which was perceived as a challenge and a threat (in terms of transactional stress theory, e.g., Lazarus & Folkman, 1984, 1987). For this purpose a new questionnaire was developed. It was assumed that children would differentiate between the perceived challenge concerning academic achievement and the new social environment, and the perceived threat in the same terms. Results support this assumption. In addition, aspects of self-concept, anxiety, predictability, and academic achievement in primary school were found to be predictors of the perceived threat (with regard to the transition to secondary school) as predicted by theory.

The study tested a model of first-year university students’ financial socialization focusing on parents as financial socialization agents and students’ present financial outcomes. Results from 395 Austrians (70% females) and 412 Slovenes (55% females) revealed significant pathways from recollected socialization experiences to students’ self-perceived financial learning outcomes (adopting parental role modeling and financial knowledge) and financial behavior control. Financial knowledge and behavioral control partly mediated the effect of prior socialization experiences on students’ financial behavior, financial relationship with parents, and financial satisfaction. Among country-specific pathways, adopting parental role modeling indirectly influenced financial outcomes in the Slovene students, whereas for the Austrian students, it was directly associated with better financial relationships with parents. Our findings on the pathways to healthy financial outcomes provide important suggestions to parents and emerging adult students.

The present study examined the defining features of emerging adulthood, subjects' conceptions of the transition to adulthood, and the perceived adult status in Austria. The sample consisted of 775 subjects (226 adolescents, 317 emerging adults, 232 adults). Results showed that most Austrian emerging adults feel themselves to be between adolescence and adulthood. Emerging adults predominantly described this period as an age of possibilities and identity exploration, as a self-focused age, as an age of feeling in between, and of instability. Regarding important criteria for feeling adult, it was found that age groups (adolescents, emerging adults, adults) differ in individualism, family capacities, norm compliance, role transitions, and other. Thus, as was shown for other Western cultures, emerging adulthood seemed to constitute a distinct stage of life in Austria also.

In general, our results agree with several studies that report that children with speech and language disorders are at special risk for developing behavioural problems. Neurodevelopmental immaturity may be one factor underlying both the disorder in language development and the behavioural problems.

In this study the relationship between children's self-perceptions, children's perceptions of others' appraisal (i.e., reflected appraisals) and others' actual appraisals reported by mothers, fathers, and teachers were examined. The Self-Description Questionnaire 1 (Marsh, 1988) was presented to 428 children. Parents and teachers were given an adapted form. Additionally, children were asked for reflected appraisals of their mothers, fathers, and teachers according to the scales of the SDQ1. Results suggest that the reflected appraisal process is in fact more complicated than originally assumed by the theorist of symbolic interactionism. Thus, aside from the direct effects from actual appraisal on reflected appraisal and reflected appraisal on selfappraisal, there are also indications of an effect by actual appraisals on self-and reflected appraisals, especially for academic self-concept. Furthermore, results indicate that different significant others have a different impact on the self-perceptions of preadolescent children.