Genetic and Environmental Influences in Alcoholic Tendencies Essay

Alcoholic Tendencies in people may be triggered by environmental influences, genetic influences, or both. Some people may be at a great risk of developing alcoholism because of this. Genetics alone can cause certain behaviors in people. If a child grows up in an environment where neither of the parents are alcoholics but the child carries the gene to become one, the child may have a higher chance of becoming an alcoholic as an adult due to genetic factors. However, because the child is not exposed to alcohol use regularly they may never exhibit alcoholic tendencies. A person may have an even greater risk if they have genetic factors, and they are brought up in an environment where there is a lot of alcohol use. Environmental factors can also cause behaviors in people. A person that grows up in an environment where they are exposed to alcoholism regularly might have the tendency to become an alcoholic even if their genetics don’t show alcoholic tendencies. The environment in which they consider normal consists of alcohol use. Therefore, it is likely they will continue with the behaviors that they are used to. However, because the child does not have genetic factors influencing alcoholic tendencies, they may never have a problem with alcohol despite growing up in an environment where alcoholism is present. Scott 2 Genetic and environmental factors influence alcoholic tendencies in people, but this does not necessarily mean having one of these factors will result in alcoholism. However, if both factors are present then a person might have a greater chance.