Examining Kurt Cobain's Personality

Personality theories attempt to identify the origins of personalty and examine how personality develops. Throughout the history of psychology, different psychologists have offered various personalities, each one contradicting some idea of the other. It is possible to examine personality using multiple parts of different theories, while certain characters may be best described by one theory. Although Kurt Cobain, a complex character, cannot possibly fit into any one personality theory perfectly, parts of his personality can be explained using theories created by Alfred Adler and Carol Rogers.

Kurt Cobain was born on February 20, 1967, in Aberdeen, Washington. His mother Wendy was a waitress and his father Donald was a mechanic. His sister Kimberly was born in 1970. Cobain’s family had a musical background, and by age four Cobain was singing and playing piano. Cobain’s parents divorced in 1976, about which Kurt said “I had a really good childhood up until I was nine, then a classic case of divorce really affected me” (“Family Values,” 1992). After the divorce, he lived with his mother, but after about a year moved to Montesano, Washington, to live with his father. He spent a lot of time bouncing around between family and friends, and by high school he was living under a bridge.

In high school Cobain befriended a gay student and had to endure bullying from people who though he was gay. Cobain later admitted that he was “gay in spirit” and “probably could be bisexual” (“The Dark Side,” 1992). He dropped out of high school two weeks before graduation because he did not have enough credits, and became a janitor. It was in high school, however, that the beginnings of Cobain’s career were formed. He met Krist Novoselic, and later co...

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... a more organized and categorized view of personality, in which Cobain fits almost perfectly.

References

The Dark Side of Kurt Cobain. (1992, February 9). The Advocate. Retrieved from http:// www.youth-suicide.com/gay-bisexual/news/kurt-cobain-god-gay.htm#03

DeRogatis, Jim. (2002). A piece of Kurt Cobain. In JimDero.com. Retrieved July 21, 2010, from http://www.jimdero.com/News2002/CobainMar10.htm

Family Values. (1992, December). Spin. Retrieved from http://www.nirvanafreak.net/art/ art4.shtml

Kurt Cobain. (2010). Biography.com. Retrieved 09:54, Aug 2 2010 from http:// www.biography.com/articles/Kurt-Cobain-9542179

Schultz, D., Schultz, S. (2009). Theories of personality. Belmont: Wadsworth.

Untitled. (1994, April 7). Kurt Cobain. Retrieved from http://kurtcobainssuicidenote.com/ kurt_cobains_suicide_note.html