Alcoholism: Nature vs Nurture
Alcoholism: Nature Versus Nurture For years people have argued that alcoholism is a choice and not a learned or inherited disease. These people will normally agree that yes, children are in fact influenced by family, but purely of a social nature, and that this disease is actually caused by poor economic status, poor social upbringings, or merely by imitating the behaviors of those who raised them. However, research has proven that in a great deal of cases there is in fact enormous basis for alcoholism being a genetic or inherited disease. While genetics cannot predict alcoholics very well, research can show that one can be born to be an alcoholic; the action and reaction taken in spite of or because of this gene however determines the outcome. When paired with a poor social upbringing it can prove to be quite difficult for one to overcome the influences that are trying to determine their lifestyle choices. As with everything in our lives alcoholism is a product of Nature versus Nurture, completely made up by both. In “The Behavioral Genetics of Alcoholism” Matt McGue explains some of the people who are at a higher risk for alcoholism. “People who were reared in an environment where drinking was tolerated and encouraged, people suffering from a mental illness and people who are biologically related to an alcoholic” (McGue, 109). At times alcohol abuse appears to be uncontrollable and most often unexpected, no one believes they will someday fall victim to this disease, let alone will they allow their child, grandchild, or other beloved family member to do so. However most people resemble the characteristics of those who reared them and most often this is done completely subconsciously. When one of both parents drink on a regular basis this becomes the norm in the eyes of the children. If drinking is consistently done within the boundaries that one is confined to and if parents condone these poor habits it is most likely that these children will begin to believe
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