{"id":11873,"date":"2020-12-22T14:20:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-22T19:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.therecoveryvillage.com\/?page_id=11873"},"modified":"2022-04-20T14:22:53","modified_gmt":"2022-04-20T18:22:53","slug":"america-addiction-familiar-familial","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.therecoveryvillage.com\/drug-addiction\/america-addiction-familiar-familial\/","title":{"rendered":"This Is America: Addiction Is Familiar, and Familial"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In America, 120 people<\/a> die every day from a drug overdose, and it is now the country\u2019s leading cause of death<\/a> for people younger than 50, eclipsing the combined fatalities from motor vehicle accidents and gun homicides<\/a>. This pervasive death toll is felt by nearly every American. Addiction leaves almost no individual, or family, unaffected, and has quickly become part of American culture. In many families, drug and alcohol use disorders are unwanted inheritances passed down from parents to children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To better understand the intricacies of familial addiction, The Recovery Village surveyed approximately 400 people from across the United States. Their answers showed that addiction is a common thread in hundreds of individual family histories, and revealed ways in which the line of disease is continued, or broken, from one generation to the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addiction: Part of the Family in America<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In October of 2017, The Pew Research Center reported that nearly half<\/a> of Americans know someone (a family member or friend) who has faced addiction. Additionally, the National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that approximately 25 percent of American children are raised in households where substance misuse is present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drug and alcohol addiction is something many Americans are exposed to early in life, often in their own homes, and it remains a constant issue in their social support circles long after childhood. This fact was echoed in The Recovery Village survey, in which almost 70 percent of respondents said that they had a history of drug or alcohol addiction in their families. The prevalence of drug and alcohol misuse in American families raises questions about how addiction originates in this setting, and why (or why not) people follow in their addicted family member\u2019s footsteps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is Addiction Hereditary?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In The Recovery Village survey, participants were asked to draw parallels between their familial addiction history and their own personal substance misuse. The survey revealed thought-provoking similarities across generational lines. Alcoholism<\/a> was the most commonly reported type of addiction in participants\u2019 families, and alcohol was also the drug the respondents struggled with the most in their own lives. In addition, mental illness<\/a> was singled out as the biggest contributing factor to each respondent\u2019s family member\u2019s addiction, and their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In line with these responses, nearly 52 percent of survey participants agreed with the statement, \u201cIf addiction runs in someone\u2019s family, they are more likely to develop an addiction.\u201d But exactly how definitive is this assessment? Understanding the accuracy of this statement demands a closer look at how addiction is passed down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Role of Genetics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Research shows that children whose parents misuse drugs are more than twice as likely<\/a> than their peers to face a substance use disorder, and children of alcoholics are four times more likely<\/a> than their peers to misuse alcohol. But does a family history of addiction truly forecast someone\u2019s future relationship with drugs and alcohol, and is someone more likely to misuse drugs or alcohol if someone in their family already does? The short answer is \u201cyes\u201d, and the explanation may lie in their genetic code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Genetic factors can influence the likelihood of someone experiencing addiction in that genes that are passed down from parent to child, over generations, can make someone predisposed to this disease. Research from the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence shows that as much as half<\/a> of a person\u2019s risk of addiction stems from genetic factors inherited from their parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To understand this genetic connection, it\u2019s important to realize that addiction is, by definition, a chronic disease. Many diseases (sickle cell anemia, cystic fibrosis, etc.) are caused by mutations in individual genes, but this is not the case with addiction. Substance use disorders are complex diseases that don\u2019t impact just a single genetic code, and variations in an array of different genes contribute to someone\u2019s overall risk of addiction<\/a>. Genetics are not the sole predictor of addiction, and are just one part of the picture when it comes to someone\u2019s risk of experiencing the disease of addiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scientists affirm that the interaction of a person\u2019s genes, experiences and environment influence their mental and physical health. For example, in the case of high blood pressure, both genetics and lifestyle factors (diet, physical activity, etc.) influence someone\u2019s risk of experiencing this condition, and the same is true with addiction. This means that people whose parents faced addiction aren\u2019t destined to develop substance use disorders just because they share a genetic code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addiction Is a Matter of Nature, and Nurture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In addition to genetics, external factors, like someone\u2019s environment, play a large role in the probability of addiction. In The Recovery Village survey, 14 percent of respondents thought addiction was a hereditary disease, while the majority described addiction as \u201ca disease caused by environmental factors or experiences.\u201d As alcoholism and drug use disorders are diseases that involve genetic and environmental influences, both answers are close to the truth. In many cases, substance use disorders are not a matter of solely nature or nurture, but of a combination of both factors. In the environmental aspect, a child\u2019s risk of developing a substance use disorder increases if:<\/p>\n\n\n\n