Social Problems – Biological Factors in Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a major social issue that involves many factors such as bio-genetic. The biological analysis shows that genetic factors play a crucial role in alcoholism, and they provide 50% of the risk (Deak & Johnson, 2021). This genetic influence, therefore, makes some people to be genetically inclined to develop alcohol use disorders (AUDs) or drinking problems from a certain biological structure.Social Problems – Biological Factors in Alcoholism:

The most influential biological influences in alcoholism involve variations in genes of alcohol metabolism. Specifically, variants of the genes ADH1B and ALDH2 have been shown to be protective against both alcohol dependence and excessive consumption (Edenberg et al., 2019). These two genes encode enzymes that break down alcohol in the body. Specific variants of the genes produce unpleasant effects when alcohol is consumed, thus reducing the risk of alcoholism.

However, biological and genetic factors can be mentioned as possible explanations for alcoholism, where never singular factor play a decisive role. The Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) study confirms that AUDs are polygenetic illnesses with genetic and environmental impact (Agrawal et al., 2023). This points to an implication, which postulates that even though relative importance of some genes to others as in this study may be higher, there is nothing like single gene causes of alcoholism because the condition is influenced by a combination of multi-factor genes and environment.

From a broader perspective, McNaughton (2020) claims that many psychiatric conditions, including addiction, can be interpreted as extremes of personality traits with biological underpinnings. It, therefore, follows from this that the study of neural-level influences on personality may provide insight into the biological underpinning of alcoholism and other substance use disorders (Funder, 2019).

In conclusion, while genes that metabolize alcohol seem to play a big role, it is a multidimensional interaction of various biological, genetic, and environmental factors that eventually determine the vulnerability of an individual to alcoholism. The multi-faceted nature of the disorder underlines the need for comprehensive approaches in addressing this social issue.

References

Agrawal, A., Brislin, S. J., Bucholz, K. K., Dick, D. M., Hart, R. P., Johnson, E. C., Meyers, J. L., Salvatore, J. E., Slesinger, P. A., NULL AUTHOR_ID, Almasy, L., Foroud, T., Goate, A., Hesselbrock, V., Kramer, J., Kuperman, S., Merikangas, A., Nürnberger, J. I., Tischfield, J. A., & Edenberg, H. J. (2023). The collaborative study on the genetics of alcoholism: Overview. Genes, Brain and Behavior, 22(5). https://doi.org/10.1111/gbb.12864

Deak, J. D., & Johnson, E. C. (2021). Genetics of substance use disorders: A review. Psychological Medicine, 51(13), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291721000969

Edenberg, H. J., Gelernter, J., & Agrawal, A. (2019). Genetics of alcoholism. Current Psychiatry Reports, 21(4), 26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-019-1008-1

Funder, D. C. (2019). The personality puzzle (8th ed.). W. W. Norton, Incorporated.

McNaughton, N. (2020). Personality neuroscience and psychopathology: Should we start with biology and look for neural-level factors? Personality Neuroscience, 3. https://doi.org/10.1017/pen.2020.5

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Question 

Prompt: For this discussion, identify a real-world social issue and discuss how biological or genetic factors may influence the issue. Examples of social problems include bullying, criminology, obesity, and alcoholism. Select a social issue for this post and discuss some of the biological or genetic factors that can negatively influence this issue.

Social Problems – Biological Factors in Alcoholism

Consider the following in your initial post:

What does the biological approach reveal about the issue?
Is there one biological or genetic factor that appears to have more influence than other factors that negatively impact the social issue?
Could there be several biological or genetic factors that negatively impact the issue?
Be sure to find and cite supporting evidence for your viewpoint.

READING RESOURCES:Textbook: READING RESOURCES:Textbook: The Personality Puzzle, Chapters 7 and 8

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