I think it's fair to say that she had fewer self-doubts as a little girl in the militantly repressive Iran than she had in the unstructured, unrestrained West. It's tempting to say that one thing might be connected to the other; maybe rebelling against the Religious Police gave her a sense of confidence and structure she was missing when sleeping outside in the parks of Vienna.
On the other hand, as a little girl, she had a strong family watching her back and when she lived in Austria, they were far away. But don't all small children feel immortal, and aren't all adults afraid? The paramilitaries that oppressed her also, in a way, watched out for her and in Austria, nobody did.
As a kid, she had a hijab and a Walkman, and they were almost connected. In Austria, she had neither and was all the more vulnerable for it. She always acted tough as nails, but as she got older realized it was just an act.
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