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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 April 2010
INTRODUCTION
Research on individual development has been strongly dominated by an interest in variables; in the characteristics of and interrelationships among person variables, and in the relationships between person variables and environmental variables (Thomae, 1988; Wohlwill, 1973). However, if the focus is on an analysis of the character of the structures and processes involved in the total functioning of an individual – in a current and in a developmental perspective – it is easy to see that this approach to the study of individual development has clear limitations (Magnusson, 1985, 1988).
Individual functioning can be described as a multidetermined stochastic process partly unique to the individual; a characteristic that is reflected in strong interactions and nonlinearity in data across individuals. This view leads to the conclusion that we have to complement the variable-oriented approach with one in which the person as a gestalt is the central object of interest. Operationally, such a person orientation implies that individuals are studied on the basis of their patterns of individual characteristics relevant for the study of the problem under consideration.
Several methodological approaches are possible for the study of individual development in terms of patterns. The aim of the present chapter is to illustrate the applicability of a cluster analysis oriented methodology to research on individual development, by presenting an empirical study concerned with the issue of early maladjustment behaviors as precursors of later adjustment problems.
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