Alcoholism

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the theories of the causality of alcoholism have changed dramatically over the last fifty years from being a learned behavior to being genetic. But now, the pendulum is slowly swinging back to viewing alcoholism as a learned behavior, with some element of genetic predisposition to the condition. The author points out that, if alcoholism is a learned behavior, it would, in fact, influence the way in which social workers treat alcoholics and their families. The paper concludes that research insists on addressing the issue of alcoholism as a complex one that, in all likelihood, includes genetic, behavioral, social, and psychological elements.

From the Paper:

"A number of researchers have investigated the question of whether or not alcoholism has a genetic component and, if so, how powerful that component is. This literature review summarizes some of the most recent research in this area. In general, researchers have found that there is a genetic element to alcoholism but that this element is not as important as the learned-behavior element of alcoholism. Research, such as that performed by Dawes et.al. (1999), reinforces the fact that even highly dysfunctional behavior can be learned."

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