ABSTRACT

In this chapter, which is based on an ongoing longitudinal study, we made an effort to combine three quite different ways to conceptualize and investigate personality. First, free descriptions of personality characteristics were studied idiographically. Second, a nomothetic Five-Factor Model was applied to the analysis of idiographic data. Third, a holistic approach to the analysis of the patterns of personality characteristics was adopted, following the lines of holistic personality theory laid down by Magnusson (1998).