Blue Eyes And Alcohol Dependence

Alcohol leads to a financial burden in a family’s household. For starters, alcohol is expensive, and most people don’t buy it off at first, and the bills will end up piling up one after the other. Alcoholics run up exorbitant tabs in bars, restaurants, and at the ball game. Then they might lose a job due to erratic behavior, absenteeism, or inability to

Financial and emotional stress, conflicts in the workplace or in the family, and personality traits are all risk factors that could potentially lead an individual to become an alcoholic. Financial stress, specifically unemployment, can cause negative emotions and potentially negative behavior such as alcohol abuse. In an article by Ioana Popovici and Michael French it states, “From a psychological perspective, the financial challenges associated with unemployment could increase tension, anxiety, and family discord, thus leading to increased alcohol use”(2013). Stress within the family, such as divorce, is also a main factor in the development of alcoholism. According to Begoña José and Hans Van Oers in their article titled “Stressors and Alcohol Consumption”, both getting and being divorced is linked to heavy drinking(2000). If alcoholic behavior occurs in a family it is common for the relationships to be weakened and more stress to be created, which can further push the alcoholic into isolation and worsen their drinking behavior. Not only can outside factors have an influence on the occurrence of alcoholism, but certain personality traits can contribute to an individual’s likelihood of becoming an alcoholic. Personality characteristics can determine how a person will react to stressors. One person may abstain from alcohol while another will resort to heavy drinking while

Since the consumption of alcohol is necessary to develop alcoholism, the availability of and attitudes towards alcohol in an individual's environment affect their likelihood of developing the disease.

Drinking pattern does differ by race and ethnicity in the United States. Our book discusses the difference between Irish, Italians, French, Asia & Native Americans, Hispanics, and African American. Studies show that African Americans have higher rates of alcoholism than whites do. This conclusion is due to the lack of research on drinking pattern amongst blacks (Lex, 1985; Sterne, 1967). Evidence also show that white women has a lower rate of alcoholism than black women, yet African American women have a higher abstain rate (Harper and Saifnoorian, 1991). Most African American males don’t encounter with alcohol related problems until about their 30’s. Seen in a study by Herd’s (1990) it revealed that is was some similar patterns between white and blacks as well as differences. White were found to do more

If more Americans, especially children of addicts, understood why alcohol has such life changing and debilitating effects, families will realize the cause of their dependence. Still, if their own parent was a part of the epidemic, one begins to wonder if they are next? It is already understood that alcohol can stem from a variety of environmental factors. Societal acceptance, through mass media platforms, has widely understated the dangers of binge drinking and the dangers of under age drinking (AlcoholPolicyMD.com,http://www.alcoholpolicymd.com/alcohol_and_health/study_env.htm). Whereas the endless amounts of bars and liquor stores, have also increased the availability of alcohol as well the social acceptance of drinking. However, how could society be one of the main causes for this inclination? Since my grandmother’s passing, my mother has preached the dangers of drinking not because of our society, but because “addiction is in our blood.” So I wonder if it is possible that an addiction is mostly an effect of genetic disposition or is it simply society’s

Based on the results of Swedish adoption studies, some researchers divide alcoholism into two types. Type I, the most common, occurs in both men and women and is associated with adult-onset alcohol dependence. This form, also known as "milieu-limited" alcoholism, appears to be the result of "genetic predisposition and environmental provocation," according to NIAAA's 1991 publication Alcohol Research: Promise for the Decade--that is, the development of alcoholism in these cases is an interaction between inherited predisposition and the person's life situations.

The number of people who use substances issues is charted by the population of Americans using alcohol,

Many sociological studies fail to provide an accurate picture of substance abuse in a society for a number of reasons. In treatment or survey interviews, substance abusing individuals frequently misrepresent or misreport their frequency of use. Those living in poverty are often more transient in their housing than those of middle and upper classes and may, therefore, be excluded from many types of household surveys. Often, statistical information is gathered from treatment facilities; however facilities do not all report into a national database and a large number of addicts never seek services. One final problem with the validity of studies involving substance abuse and poverty is the isolation, in many studies, of one or more drugs. Many researchers have focused on drugs, such as crack-cocaine or heroin and not marijuana or powder cocaine (Jacobson and Ensminger, 2011). While it is difficult to obtain valid data on the actual rate and incidence of substance abuse in poverty ridden communities, researchers have been able to isolate some negative effects of substance abuse and correlate them to socio-economic status.

In today's modern society alcohol addiction and alcohol abuse has become one of the most complex, life-threatening issues. Most depressed individuals usually indulge themselves in bars or pubs with their alcohols to escape from their stressful life. It has become increasingly alarming how alcohol does not only attract the adults, but also teenagers these days. "Research has shown that approximately 14 million Americans (7.4%) of the population meet the diagnostic criteria for alcohol abuse or alcoholism" ("Facts about Alcohol"). Alcohol addicts may encounter social impact such as loss of respect from others who may see the problem as self- inflictive and easily avoided. Repeated use of alcohol over a period of time can result in

Does the environment that one grows up in contribute to alcoholism or is alcoholism determined by genetics? It wasn’t until 1991 that alcoholism was considered both a medical and psychiatric disease by the American Medical Association. Alcoholism is defined in the dictionary as a chronic disorder characterized by dependence on alcohol, repeated excessive use of alcoholic beverages, the development of withdrawal symptoms on reducing or ceasing intake, morbidity that may include cirrhosis of the liver, and decreased ability to function socially and vocationally. (dictionary.com). It is also defined as an addiction to the consumption of alcoholic liquor or the mental illness

Alcoholism is a major social problem that not only has an impact on the life of an alcoholic, but family members as well as society. Alcoholism is the third most common mental illness that affects more than 17 million people in the United States according to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse. Alcoholism does not discriminate against age, race nor gender.

Social influences include low socio-economic status of the individual, low levels of parental guidance and education, family or domestic issues at home, presence of a history of alcoholism in the family, lack of rules on alcohol use in the family setting and peer pressure.

Along with gender differences, other factors that influence the addiction of alcohol amongst women include genetics, neuropsychology, and environment. The environmental factor plays a big role in alcohol addiction amongst women, especially in the family context. Holdcraft and Iacono wrote in an article, “Women have been found to have more drinking-related familial consequences while men suffer more adverse social, occupational, legal and violence-related consequences” (pp. 1026). Women of alcohol addiction have developed this disease more than not through some type of influence by family.

Social and cultural factors play roles in to establishing drinking patterns and the development of alcoholism. In some cultures, there is conflict between abstaining and accepting the use of alcohol as a way to change moods or to be social, thus making it difficult for some people to develop stable attitudes about and moderate patterns of drinking. Society tends to aid in the development of alcoholism by making alcohol seem glamorous, showing that by drinking, you will become more popular, more glamorous and more worthy of respects from others.

People drink in many ways, for many different reasons. We drink socially, to gain acceptance into a group. We drink alone to ease stress, to cope with our problems, or we “drink because we like the taste or how it makes us feel”#. Often drinking is a learned behavior, starting out as a social drinker; you quickly become psychologically and physically dependent. When someone reaches this stage they are often classified as an alcoholic. To an alcoholic, drinking becomes a compulsion; they cannot stop themselves from having another drink, like a social drinker can. In many cases alcoholics don’t even have to drink continuously in order to be an alcoholic. One the problems of alcohol addiction is that it’s something that doesn’t just effect the individual but it effects, friends and family as well. Spouse abuse, child abuse and dysfunctional family relationships can all be influenced by alcohol abuse.