2. Risk Factors in developing Addiction

Question 1

how do genetic vulnerabilities affect the development of addiction

Answer 1

they may influence how substances are metabolised, which can lead to positive or negative effects of the drugs

Question 2

give an example of how genetics can vary the digestion of alchohol

Answer 2

50% Asians metabolise alcohol slowly, meaning they will feel more sick, this reduces the likelihood of them becoming addicted

Question 3

what must there be in order for an individual to become addicted to a drug

Answer 3

there must be a gene-environment interaction as the person must first be exposed

Question 4

what are the limitations of this genetic explanations

Answer 4

• determinist explanation, meaning it does mean people will take any accountability to change their decisions
• socially sensitive as the deterministic approach means that people are not responsible for their decisions, which would cause implications on the criminal justice system
• genetically reductionist meaning it does not take other factors into account, it does not consider social pressure, environment or individual circumstance

Question 5

what are the strengths of the genetic explanations or risk factors

Answer 5

• support for genetic factors, Kendler, discovered that there was a concordance rate of 33% in MZ twins and only 15% in DZ, this suggests that there are significant influence of genetic factors
  HOWEVER, this highlights that there is some influence of environmental factors as the concordance rate was not 100% on MZ

Question 6

name all of the risk factors

Answer 6

1. Genetic risk factors
2. stress
3. Personality
4. family
5. Peers

Question 7

how may stress act as a risk factor for developing addiction

Answer 7

high levels of stress make people more vulnerable due substances or behaviour such as smoking providing a relief

Question 8

what are the strengths for the stress theory as a risk factor

Answer 8

• Epstein found that women who had been raped as a kid, showed twice as many symptoms as those who had not, they also had significantly higher alcohol symptoms
• this can be further supported as children displaying PTSD symptoms had twice as many alcohol related symptoms, meaning that PTSD was a contributing factor in alcohol use as a way to escape reliving trauma
• Tovalacci, found that highly stressed students were more likely to smoke and abuse alcohol, alongside an addiction to the internet
  HOWEVER, this was a correlational study, as it did not show a causal relationship. the results were also recorder from a questionnaire which meant that demand characteristics could have been influenced

Question 9

who proposed the theory of personality as a risk factor

Answer 9

Eysenck

Question 10

how can personality act as a risk factor for developing an addiction

Answer 10

certain personalities were prone to addiction,
high neuroticism and high psychoticism were more likely to develop addiction

Question 11

why do psychologists argue with the personality theory

Answer 11

they disagree as they believe that those with high impulsivity characteristics will increase likelihood of addiction as they need gratification from those around them

Question 12

evaluate personality as a risk factor

Answer 12

Ivanov showed there was a correlation between impulsivity and drug abuse, Zamir et al found inhibitory difficulties mediated frontostriatal circuitry, which means there may be neurological explanation as a risk factor

• a strength of this explanation is that it could help identify individuals at risk of developing addiction , which means that they could receive help to prevent the developing addiction

Question 13

name the two parts of the family risk factor explanation

Answer 13

1. Social Learning theory
2. Perceived Parental Approval

Question 14

describe the social learning theory

Answer 14

the idea of vicarious reinforcement happening, which means that children watch the adults around them and copy the behaviour if the consequences are desirable, such as with smoking
the idea that repeated exposure means the individual will become addicted

Question 15

evaluate the social learning theory as a risk factor

Answer 15

• changes based off how much the child identifies with the model of the behaviour
• it does not take into account cognitions which can impact whether the child follows through with the vicarious reinforcement

Question 16

describe perceived parental approval

Answer 16

the kid picks up on the adults around thems perception of drugs and alcohol, or the fact that the parents do not monitor their behaviour, will make them more likely to become addicts

Question 17

evaluate perceived parental approval

Answer 17

• there is support from Quine and Stephenson, which showed that children who had seen their parents drink at least once were more likely to have the intention of drinking over those who did not
• Bonomo found that when adolescents who had experienced alcohol related injuries, they were 1.8 times more likely than other adolescents to have parents who drank alcohol daily
• however this was just a correlational study, so it does not show a causal relation, it also does not separate family from other factors which could be affecting the results, which reduces its validity.

Question 18

name the fifth risk factor for developing addiction

Answer 18

Peers

Question 19

describe how peers can become a risk factor for developing addiction

Answer 19

that peer influence may lead to addiction :
- individual is influenced as they associate with peers who drink themselves
- these peers provide opportunities