Twenty-three million Americans are facing a drug addiction, according to a “Closing the Addiction Treatment Gap” (CATG) review. That’s roughly 8% of the population of the United States that are facing addiction. According to Enlightenment philosophers, the environment plays a significant role in the turnout of the individual. There are many factors that affect the risk of an adolescent becoming one of the eight percent. The risk of generational drug abuse is affected by a combination of one’s socioeconomic status (SES), the brain’s processing of certain chemicals, and epigenetic inheritance from the parent.
One’s SES plays a large role not only in an adolescent becoming an addict, but as to what substance they will become addicted to. People of different SES tend to use different substances. For example, people who have a lower SES are faced with a higher chance of smoking cigarettes (Patrick et al.). People of more affluent families, however, are more likely to be what are defined as “current drinkers.” "Current drinking," which doesn't necessarily relate to a dependence on alcohol (the question asked to define the term was "Do you ever drink any alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine, or liquor?") increases with SES; adolescents in the highest percentiles of income, wealth, and parental …show more content…
“Addictive-like behaviors” are transmitted epigenetically (Vassoler and Sadri-Vakili). An experiment with maternal care proved that: “variations in maternal licking and grooming behavior can alter epigenetic marks throughout the genome and determine the level of care administered to the subsequent generation” (Champagne and Meaney, Champagne, McGowan et al., Weaver et al., qtd. in Vassoler and Sadri-Vakili). While this quote doesn’t prove drug addiction, it does solidify the claim that certain behaviors are transmitted to later generations, and by extension, drug addiction may follow
One’s SES plays a large role not only in an adolescent becoming an addict, but as to what substance they will become addicted to. People of different SES tend to use different substances. For example, people who have a lower SES are faced with a higher chance of smoking cigarettes (Patrick et al.). People of more affluent families, however, are more likely to be what are defined as “current drinkers.” "Current drinking," which doesn't necessarily relate to a dependence on alcohol (the question asked to define the term was "Do you ever drink any alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine, or liquor?") increases with SES; adolescents in the highest percentiles of income, wealth, and parental …show more content…
“Addictive-like behaviors” are transmitted epigenetically (Vassoler and Sadri-Vakili). An experiment with maternal care proved that: “variations in maternal licking and grooming behavior can alter epigenetic marks throughout the genome and determine the level of care administered to the subsequent generation” (Champagne and Meaney, Champagne, McGowan et al., Weaver et al., qtd. in Vassoler and Sadri-Vakili). While this quote doesn’t prove drug addiction, it does solidify the claim that certain behaviors are transmitted to later generations, and by extension, drug addiction may follow