Life History Theory Essay

The first way in which this trait varies is within sexes. To start, one should understand that Life History Theory can clearly make a distinction between how males and females are affected by psychotropic drug use. The Life History Theory describes males as more likely to develop psychotropic drug addictions than females, especially prevalent in adolescence. This trend does not decline in males until they marry (Durrant, Adamson, Todd, Sellman ,2009). In adolescence, males and females have varying likelihoods of developing psychotropic drug addictions. In middle school, males have higher lifetime prevalence rates for substance abuse. However, in high school, females have higher lifetime prevalence rates. Particularly, in the beginning of high school, the risk factors between men and women in patterns of psychotropic drugs are more similar than they are different (Khoury, 1998). Substance abuse is often concomitant with risk taking. This can be seen in the case of males, where risk taking is much more prevalent (Durrant et al, 2009). Many males ' motivational reward systems associate risk taking with positive outcomes, and …show more content…
Adaptations that have been conceived by co-evolution can be seen in the ways in which humans now can easily metabolize plants with psychotropic qualities, and how the same psychotropic plants have evolved to be more easily metabolized by humans. Psychotropic plants were in abundance, and probably consumed by mammals every day. The Co-evolution Theory dismisses the Mismatch Theory, due to the argument that the Mismatch Theory cannot apply to modern day society, as psychotropic drugs are in significantly higher abundance currently than they ever have been (Sullivan, Hagen,