Personal Narrative: I Grow Up In Congo

The social and cultural factors influencing the initiation of tobacco, Alcohol and other substances use vary from country to country, from developed world to developing nations, region to region and culture to culture.

When an individual believes, and expects, to have positive effects from a certain drug (e.g., drinking alcohol to reduce stress and anxiety), the likelihood that the individual will abuse the drug is extremely high. Sociocultural factors also play a vital role in how frequently a substance is used, with family and friends being the most influential. A broken family home (e.g., marital problems, parent/sibling alcohol or drug use, and legal or psychiatric problems) can have a tremendous negative effect on a child and the decisions they make. A lack of emotional support from parents is found to increase drug use, whereas the lack of parental monitoring if often associated with higher drug use (Kring, 2014). The idea of being “popular” and having a ton of friends seems to be a common goal for the majority of adolescents and young adults. Social influence is explained by the fact that having peers who drink, influences drinking behavior; however, it is also known that individuals will choose friends with drinking patterns similar to their own. While growing up, most of us have always been told to choose our friends wisely; however, they neglected to tell us how difficult this can be.

Gratefully, my life has not been impacted negatively by alcohol. But after reflecting on my past experiences, alcohol has been involved greatly in my life, although it may not have been negatively. Since I was young, I have remembered observing family members drinking alcohol and pondering if whether their decisions were just. I was raised in an atmosphere, where alcohol was demonstrated as not a harmful thing, but shown as a privileged activity that adults did. Most of my family’s gatherings always had alcohol included, it became a natural occurrence and it seemed abnormal if it was absent. My family doesn’t need alcohol as an item in order to have fun, but we use alcohol as a special luxury to celebrate joyful events. We also don’t indulge

How are you? I am the friend of Catherine Browns's that she connected you with on Facebook. My wife Darla and I lived in Glasgow, Scotland for three years and connected with Catherine while we were there. We worked together and Scotland as well as doing a conference together in Ireland. I mentioned to her that I have been praying for several years about coming to South Africa.

Some research studies show relation from parental influence and upbringing of a child to underage drinking (Ary, Tildesley, Hops, Andrews 1993). In this study conducted by Ary et al., 173 families with two children were questioned. The object of the examination was to explore the attitudes and beliefs parents were teaching their children about the consumption of alcoholic substances. Within the study a mother, father, sibling and the target teenager undertook a self-assessment to measure their alcohol

Let me start off with an incident that happened a couple of years ago. A man attempted to break into our house by shattering our windows and doors. The man got caught but left a huge mess. Luckily, we had a good relationship with our neighbors; so, they repaired our damages and helped install a security system for us. After the incident, I realized how important it is to build strong communities. Communities take part in a vital role in every detail of our lives. A community can be massive or small, and we have communities through our neighborhoods, family, friends, and in many other places. Getting along with those nearby can be beneficial for everyone in the community. Building a strong community can create a more secure environment and together can create a stronger impact.

Peer pressure influences teenagers to drink. Teenagers will drink because they want to look cool or fit in with the cool people. Like if they go to a party they will drink to be like everyone else. Laurie Halse Anderson the author of “Speak” is saying that peer pressure can make you do insane things. So don’t hang out with people that will force you to perform something you don’t want to do. If you achieve it you can become a negative person and face consequences.

Get hooked on drinking to stave off withdrawal symptoms. Also, younger family members tend to mimic the alcohol use patterns of their parents, siblings, and other family members. Peers also influence drinking behavior. Some studies shows that regardless of family history of alcoholism, a lack of parental monitoring, severe and recurrent family conflict and poor parent-child relationships can contribute to alcohol abuse in adolescents. Children with conduct skills as well as those with little connection to parents, other family members, or school may be at an increased risk for alcohol abuse.

As a young adult in college I find that a greater amount of social pressure is put upon people to drink alcohol more than smoking. Many people assume that the only way to fit in and have fun is to drink which can create many issues and cause bad habits to develop such as binge drinking. I feel that drinking and smoking are the silent killers that society often overlooks. Society is able to see the pleasurable sides of smoking and drinking as they can bring relief from stressful situations and also allow you to fit in with the more popular crowd, but if these so-called stress reliving mechanisms are continued long-term it can bring about detrimental conditions such as liver disease and cancer. I have seen a decrease in the amount of people my age that smoke cigarettes which I am very happy about. Smoking is seen more negatively than drinking and I feel that it is a result of better education about the effects of

In Guinea, there are too many peoples and languages and cultures to name here. It is a massive region which spans to several thousand miles of coast in Western Africa, from the fringes of the Sahara to the southern ocean. It is here where the business of capturing slaves for their transportation to the new world is completed. The Niger river winds northeast into the continent for thousands of miles, and in the vast river basin from which its might is drawn is situated the kingdom of Tonga which reaches from the coast to an indefinite boundary inland, the extent of which is not known I believe to any one man. In the interior of the kingdom, our rule is nominal, tributorial. So, no repercussions were felt by our people as a result of this subjection,

I am Teeb 16 years old Laos is where I’m from Love family, but there is no family to love Lost gone As lonely as a boat in the middle of the ocean I am Hmong My religion is Buddhism I am Teeb

The cultural norms in which one has been brought up also play a major role in how one develops and one’s behavior towards alcohol abuse.

Every problem has a beginning, where the domino effect starts. In most cases people get started drinking not because they like it, but because it is illegal and it gives them a chance to rebel. The so-called “rebel” becomes bored of drinking alone and eventually seeks “company” when they are drinking. The only catch is that the “rebel” can not be the only one drinking so the “company” has to drink. This is where the problem with peer pressure and teenage drinking begins and the first domino starts the chain reaction. There are two types of peer pressure. There is direct peer pressure where a subject’s peers actually force him into having a drink. There is also indirect peer pressure where the subject enters a setting and his peers are drinking so he decides to have a drink to fit in with the rest of his peers (Articles-Teenage Drinking 2). Surveys show that alcohol abuse is related to teenage activities such as going on dates and going to parties (Teenage Alcohol Misuse 2).

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.

I was in the band in college and my sections drank and smoked a lot. There are many people that I went to school with that started smoking and drinking because they were pressured by their friends. I was one of the people that was pressed to drinking alcohol. I turned to drinking alcohol when things went south with one of my best friends. Also during that time I continued to have father issues, and I was doing an internship that was not going well. So I turned to alcohol as a way to help me get through my problems. I later discovered that drinking did not help with the issues that I was having; it only made it worse. Later on I got kicked out of my internship because of my alcohol abuse and went back to school to finish my