A Person Approach in Research on Adolescence

Research on adolescence has to face a number of methodological challenges, which tend to be particularly relevant for studies concerning this period of life. Some of these issues are addressed in this article. First, a metatheoretical perspective is introduced in the form of the person approach, which is based on the holistic-interactionistic research paradigm. In a person approach the individual as a “functioning whole” is central and not the variable, as is the usual case. This perspective has consequences both for the theoretical thinking and for the methodological approach. A short overview is given of major types of pattern-based methods often used for carrying out a person approach. Against this background, some methodological challenges for research on adolescence are discussed: Studying growth in patterns or configurations, interindividual differences in maturational tempo, a dynamic versus a static perspective, and prediction and explanation.