In the course of child development, a multitude of factors have severe ramifications on the child’s

I grew up being told that addiction runs in the family and that it is inherited. The Etiology and Natural History of Alcoholism article (n.d.) does, in fact, mention that genetics play a role but other factors such as social, psychological, and environmental are also reasons to contribute to addiction. In turn, genes are not solely supported as the only cause for susceptibility. In fact, “[m]ost offspring of an alcoholic parent DO NOT develop alcohol use problems or disorders in their lifetime.” (Module 2: Etiology and Natural History of Alcoholism, n.d.)

One of the earliest adoption studies was conducted by Goodwin et al., (1973). Results of the study showed that men whose parents were alcoholics had an increased likelihood of alcoholism, even when adopted and raised by non-alcoholic parents from birth. The results provided strong support for a genetic component to alcohol dependence, as treatment for alcohol problems (9% versus 1%) and meeting criteria for alcoholism (18% versus 5%) were all significantly higher in the adopted-away children of parents with alcohol problems/ dependence (Goodwin et al., 1973).

Having a father-in-law that is an alcoholic, my son may have through genetics, inherited some of the genes of addiction to becoming an alcoholic. Being extremely active in high school, he chose to participate

There is an emerging literature documenting how specific environmental factors moderate the importance of genetic effects. A growing number of variables have been shown to moderate the relative importance of genetic effects on substance use and dependence and externalizing behavior. Among the environmental moderators being studied are childhood stressors (emotional, physical, and sexual abuse), availability and access to drugs and alcohol, peer-group antisocial and prosocial behavior, religiosity, parental attitudes toward drugs and alcohol, parental monitoring, and socioregional factors. Religiosity has been shown to moderate genetic influences on alcohol use among females, with genetic factors playing a larger role among individuals without a

McGue (1999) found that genes contribute to the development of alcohol dependence, with heritability estimates from 50-60% for both men and women.

The article by Bierut et al. (2010) is a discovery science article, in which there are no hypotheses tested. This article focuses on alcohol dependence and the genetic influences that contribute. Various case subjects were used to analyze the results from, the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA). In this genome-wide

Genetic indicators of alcohol and substance dependence presently used in an attempt to further explain alcohol and drug dependency. It’s an early inception of alcohol-related problems, greater severity of dependence, poly-drug use, severe chronic treatment history, psychopathological dysfunction,

Research has shown that there is, in fact, a hereditary gene of alcoholism. The specific gene is ….A person born to a parent with alcoholism is four times more likely to develop a problem with alcohol than someone who does not have a history of alcoholic parents even if he/she was not raised by that parent (Use and abuse 2011). Although the exact etiology of alcoholism is debatable, experts believe there are multiple psychological, social, and environmental aspects to the disease.

Risk taking occurs as researchers have shown because the brain continues to develop important communication connections and further refines its function. During this time adolescents search for situations that may be hazardous. Hereditary factors are also another cause of underage drinking. Being a child of an alcoholic or having several alcoholic family members places a person at a high risk for alcoholic problems. Environmental aspects, pinpointing a genetic contribution will not tell the whole story as drinking behavior reflects a complex interplay between inherited and environmental factors. By having parents who heavily drink and view it as favorable their children will also drink.

Most believe that it is genetic because it runs in the family. So if any of your family members drink, you carry that gene and may also become alcoholic as well. This term is FALSE! Those who are predisposed around alcohol DO have higher risk at it but that does not mean you are a true alcoholic. There is no such thing as a gene that

There has been an abundance of research done on this topic.  Family studies, twin studies, animal studies, and adoption studies are showing stronger and stronger genetic influences particularly in severe alcoholism (Black, 2010) A recent twin study that assessed

Another aspect to highlight lies in the scopes of the development of alcohol or drug abuse is the genetical factors of inheritance and genetic factors. Of course, there are numerous debates in the discussion labelled as nature or nurture, but the inheritance cannot be ignored. One of the research establishes that alcoholism

The causes of drug abuse are not entirely been established, but most likely to include in genetics, mental health disorders, and the individual's surrounding circumstances. The drug and alcohol abuse can run in the family and offspring can inherit the habit. Genetic predisposition is deliberately substantial in establishing a substance or alcohol abuse problem. Heritability of substance use disorders varies among substances (and the measure of substance use), populations, age, and sex (Meyers & Dick, 2010, p.467). It is a moderate percentage that genetics cause substance abuse. Research shows that genetics of the youth alcohol and substance problems indicate that these disturbed behaviors are a demonstration of exposure of the spectrum of externalizing disorders and recognize each individual complication independently which may result in us to fail to catch critical analysis evidence (Meyers & Dick, 2010, p.467).

A major factor for alcoholism development is genetic factors such as variations of specific genes. There is not a specific kind of genes that causes the individual to get alcoholism, but it is said that there are variants of genes that have an effect on alcoholism. The impact of the variation of genes depends on an individual’s background, such as other genetic variations that the individual carries. The strategies that identify the genes that play a role in alcoholism will be explained in the next paragraph.

The present study is about the how family, in specific older siblings, affect young children in their emotional development. “The Contribution of Older Sibling’s Reactions to Emotions to Preschoolers’ Emotional and Social Competence” by Sawyer, Denham, DeMulder, Auerbach-Major, and Levitas (2002) explores the rates that affect preschoolers in different socio-emotional situations, depending on their interaction and relationship with their older siblings.