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Genetics And Substance Abuse Essay

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This paper discusses the impact of genetics on substance abuse. The research question is “To what extent are the children whose parents are substance abusers more likely to demonstrate the same behavior?’’ This is an important issue since substance abuse may have serious negative consequences for the abuser and society. Establishing the effect of genetics on substances abuse can not only help with treatments but also enable the government to take preventive measures before addiction is manifested in children.

This is investigated by first considering the effect of genetics on substance abuse by a literature review of impact of genes on addiction, as well as twin studies. Substance abuse is then contextualized using biological, sociocultural, and environmental factors so that the extent to which inheritance affects probability of substance abuse can be isolated.

The result of this investigation reveals that children of substance abusers are significantly more vulnerable than children of non-abusers to become …show more content…
I will mainly focus on past research about impact of genes on substance abuse since children of parents who are substance abusers will inherit the genes of their parents. Regardless of the importance of genes, inevitably, there are other triggering external factors that lead to substance abuse like peer pressure, culture, and the structure of the family in which individuals are raised, along with the role of maltreatment. Other ways to explain addiction include social learning theory and past traumas, like sexual abuse during childhood. On the other hand, parental support can prevent individuals from abusing substances. Hence, along with the biological level of analysis, sociocultural level of analysis will also be used to determine the extent of influence of biological factors. Special focus will be placed on interaction between biological and sociocultural

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