Midterm 1- Lesson 1-15

Question 1

List the characteristics shared by most health-compromising behaviors.(5)

Answer 1

1. There is a window of vulnerability in adolescence.
2. Many of these behaviors are heavily tied to the peer culture, as children learn from and imitate the peers, especially the male peers, they like and admire. They are also intimately bound up in the self-presentation process-that is, in the adolescent’s or young adult’s efforts to appear sophisticated, cool, tough, or savvy in his or her social environment.
3. The behaviors are often pleasurable, enhancing the adolescent’s ability to cope with stressful situations, and some represent thrill seeking, which can be rewarding in its own right; however, each of these behaviors is also highly dangerous.
4. The development of these behaviors occurs gradually, as the individual is exposed to and becomes susceptible to the behavior, experiments with it, and later engages in its regular use.
5. The likelihood of engaging in these behaviors can be predicted some of the same factors: high levels of conflict at home, poor self-control, low self-esteem, and poor school performance.

Question 2

Name some common disorders linked to alcohol consumption.

Answer 2

High blood pressure, stroke, cirrhosis of the liver, some forms of cancer, fetal alcohol syndrome, sleep disorders, and cognitive deficits are all linked to chronic alcohol abuse.

Question 3

Distinguish between alcoholism and alcohol abuse.

Answer 3

The term ‘alcoholic’ is usually reserved for someone who is physically addicted to alcohol. Alcoholics show withdrawal symptoms when they attempt to stop drinking, they have a high tolerance for alcohol, and they have little ability to control their drinking. Physiological dependence can be manifested in stereotypic drinking patterns (drinking certain alcoholic beverages in particular quantities at particular times of day), drinking that maintains blood alcohol at a particular level, the ability to function at a level that would incapacitate less tolerant drinkers, increased frequency and severity of withdrawal, early in the day and middle of night drinking, a sense of loss of control over drinking, and a subjective craving for alcohol.
Problem drinkers who engage in alcohol abuse may not have symptoms as severe as alcoholics, but they may have substantial social, psychological, and medical problems resulting from alcohol. Symptoms of alcohol abuse include difficult in performing one’s job because of alcohol consumption, inability to function well socially without alcohol, and legal difficulties encountered while drinking, such as drunk driving convictions.

Question 4

Identify the factors that may contribute to alcoholism.

Answer 4

Genetics: Based on twin studies and on the frequency of alcoholism in sons of alcoholic fathers, genetic factors appear to be implicated. Men have traditionally been at greater risk for alcoholism than women, although with changing norms, younger women and women employed outside the home are beginning to catch up.
Low income: Socioeconomic status (SES) also predicts alcoholism, but only to a relatively small degree.
Parental and peer influence, depression, and responding to stress with feelings of powerlessness are also predictors of alcoholism. There are two primary windows for the onset of symptoms, at ages 12-21 and in late middle age.

Question 5

physical dependence-

Answer 5

A state in which the body has adjusted to the use of a substance, incorporating it into the body’s normal functioning.

Question 6

tolerance

Answer 6

The process by which the body increasingly adapts to a substance, requiring larger and larger doses of it to obtain the same effects; a frequent characteristic of substance abuse, including alcohol and drug abuse.

Question 7

craving

Answer 7

A strong desire to engage in a behavior or consume a substance, such as alcohol or tobacco, which appears, in part, to occur through the conditioning of physical dependence on environmental cues associated with the behavior.

Question 8

addiction

Answer 8

The state of physical or psychological dependence on a substance that develops when that substance is used over a period of time.

Question 9

withdrawal

Answer 9

Unpleasant physical and psychological symptoms that people experience when they stop using a substance on which they have become physically dependent; symptoms include anxiety, craving, hallucinations, nausea, headaches, and shaking.

Question 10

alcoholism

Answer 10

The state of physical addiction to alcohol that manifests through such symptoms as stereotyped drinking, drinking to maintain blood alcohol at a particular level, increasing frequency and severity of withdrawal drinking early in the day and in the middle of the night, a sense of loss of control over drinking, or a subjective craving for alcohol.

Question 11

problem drinking

Answer 11

Uncontrolled drinking that leads to social, psychological, and biomedical problems resulting from alcohol; the problem drinker may show some signs associated with alcoholism, but typically problem drinking is considered to be a pre-alcoholic or a lesser alcoholic syndrome.