This paper focuses on daily hassles during the transition to first grade. A theoretical framework has been posited to generate hypotheses and integrate research results on the stress of this transition. Framework is based on current knowledge on psychosocial stress during childhood, followed by a developmental view of child stress. The paper comprises three sections. The first one focuses on childhood psychosocial stress in four research fields: relationship between psychosocial stress and adjustment; daily hassles; a developmental view of the stress-adjustment relation; school as a source of daily hassles. In the second section, results on the first grade transition are given and contribute through indirect evidence towards the children's coping with the transition. The conceptual framework is presented in the last section, comprising an articulation between adaptive tasks and daily hassle domains, as well as hypotheses on the impact of transition on development. Relevant research issues are suggested on the basis of the proposed framework.
First-grade transition; daily hassles; child
