Vulnerablility factors Flashcards
What are the 4 risk factors?
Personality
Age
Stress
Peers
What are the 3 personality types proposed by Eyesenk? and descibe
Extraversion- characteristics of this are sociability, liveliness and optimism
Psychoticism- aggression, coldness, impulsivity and egocentricity
Neuroticism- moodiness, irritability and anxiety
Link the 3 personality types to addiction?
Research indicates a higher than normal P and N score in addiction to various drugs eg alcohol heroin nicotine (Francis)
Research has also suggested a link between anti-social personality disorder and alcoholism and anti-social p d and conduct disorders such as ADD
Who are the researchers for personality as a risk factor?
Chein
Gossop and Eysenck
What did Chein find?
various personality factors were underlying in ghetto adolescent addicts including low self esteem, neg outlook and learned imcompetence
What did Gossop and Eysenck do?
Administered Eysencks personality q to 221 addicts and 310 non addicts
found signif differences in personality
mainly differed in terms of neuroticism relating to depression and anxiety
Eval for personality as a risk factor?
Supporting research
Too simplistic
Cause and Effect
Why is cause and effect an issue with personality?
Because research suggests that personality is how people get addicted however the only time a personality is measured is when an addiction has already formed eg neuroticism causes the additive behaviour but it may be that the addiction caused the neuroticism
Why is it suggested that stress is a risk factor?
Addiction is a coping mechanism-
addiction is associated with anxiety and stress, people report they drink, smoke and gamble as a means of coping with daily hassles such as workplace stress money worries and relationship probs
Stressors may contribute to the continuation of addicts as well as the relapse
may lead to vicious cycle of stress affecting addiction and vice versa
Brain activity-
research has suggested that the same area of the brain that is activated during the stress response is activated during a craving (Sinha)
Who are the researchers for stress as a risk factor?
Kosten
Cleck and Blendy
What did Kosten do?
Neonate rats
subject to isolation for 1 hour on their 2nd to 9th day of life
greater tendency to administer cocaine than rats who did not suffer isolation stress when neonates
What did Cleck and Blendy do?
Found that stress related psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety in people who experience chronic stressful life events eg sexual abuse, linked with increase use of nicotine, cocaine and alcohol
Eval for stress as risk factor?
Practical applications
Research is corrolational
Research has been based on animals
What prac apps are there for stress?
Use a stress index to be formulated to measure a persons stress in order to produce an early warning system
allows for interventions to be used eg CBT to help over come the addiction
Why is research into stress corrolational?
Cleck and Blendt- corrolation between stress related disorders and addiction
cannot establish cause and effect and say it is a direct cause
OTOH- not possible to carry out more controlled research because it would involve inducing people to stress in the hope they form an addiction therefore experimental research would be unethical
Why is it an issue that research into stress is based on animals?
Findings cannot be applied to humans as they may not react in the same way
OTOH- unethical to conduct research on humans so animals are the only way we can gather information about stress influencing addiction
Why may age be a risk factor?
Prime age for initiation to smoking is adolescence
Early onset-
research has suggested that there is a +correlation between early onset and reduced probability of abstaining
early onset is also more likely to make someone relapse when they attempt to stop and also increase the likelihood of dependency on other addictions
Research of Zucker has suggested that the earlier the onset of drinking the more likely they are to have drinking problems
Social factors (peers and role models)- alcohol consumption is not only socially accepted but is encouraged especially by peers observation of role models is influencial peers may also play an influencial role at the onset of addictions in adolescents
Research for age as a risk factor?
Fidler
Shram
What did Fidler do?
5863 adolescents between 11-16 and assessed smoking habits and nicotine levels through saliva
those who had smoked one cigerette by 11 where 2x more likely to be a regular smoker by 14
those who had began at a later age were likely to have tried it at a younger age
“Sleeper effect”- dormant vuln took years to express
What did Shram do?
Age differences in acute nicotine administraction and rewarding and adversive effects of nicotine in rats
nicotine found to have greater activating effect on the neural structures of adolescents who were more sensitve to rewarding effects but less sensitive to adversive effects
Adults suffered more adversive effects and less rewarding
Eval for age as a risk factor?
Supporting research
Practical applications
Methodological probs
What practical apps are there for age?
Research has suggested that targeted public health initiatives would be more effective if targeted at a specific age group
eg, opposing experimentation with tabacco in young adolescents
What methodological issues are there with age?
Research has focused on young people as the greatest risk of developing an addiction
However, paid less attention to the different age groups eg research on middle age is less common may be dependancy being less evident and older people being more reluctant to admit having dependancy issues. Having less visible symptoms reduces the chances of fam or friends intervening
How are peers a risk factor?
Attitudes of peers-
if they have pos attitude to addictive and thrill seeking behaviours as well as the experimentation then his may increase the vulnerability of an individual developing an add
peer pressure-
it may be that peer pressure, in the form of normative social influence encourages a young person to engage in an addictive behaviour to avioid ridicule and rejection. If a behaviour is adopted by individuals in a peer group it will be adoped by indivs to show they are in the “in group”
OC-
may play a role because a group may reinforce the participation and show pos attitudes towards forming an addictive behaviour through praise and increased status in the group
