Chapter 5 Flashcards
What is the role of twin studies and genetics?
By examining identical sets of twins to determine if genetic predisposition exists for an alcoholic. There appears to be a hereditary predisposition to both alcohol dependence and the social problems associated with it.
What is the public health model?
A systematic way of tackling the problem of disease, its causes, and the risks if contracting it. Looking at the agent, the host, and the environment.
How do expectancies develop?
Some development comes from the larger cultural landscape, including everything from alcohol advertising to the depiction of alcohol use in TV and movies. Then too there is the culture of the family, how we see alcohol being used, the kinds of behavior that occur in the presence of drinking, and the related attitudes. It can develop in very subtle ways from a very early age.
What is the definition of harm reduction?
The issue is less about whether individuals use or do not use alcohol or other drugs than it is about reducing problems associated with use. What such policies try to reflect is the reality that risky behavior does occur. And in light of that reality, a harm reduction perspective maintains that it is possible and important to reduce associated risks.
