The transition into work - An editorial commentary

Different research perspectives on the transition into work are presented, and some trends and shortcomings are discussed. It is argued that an orient ation toward transition as a crisis no longer seems appropriate for researc h. Rather, various contextual schemes embedding different courses of transi tion and the "gradualness'' in a context of life-long learning actually cha racterise this period. The six articles of the special issue are commented upon with regard to the study of the transition into work domain. General c onclusions are summarised into eight points, claiming for example that soci etal events and contextual structures are important factors, that psycholog ical attributes measured individually appear to be relatively stable wherea s configurations may change considerably, and that job satisfaction is only partially determined by dispositions. fine conclusion af so suggests movin g away from a global perspective on transition as a change, toward a more m icro-behaviourally focused dynamic approach.