What is Addiction and What Are the Risk Factors?

Addiction affects millions of people regardless of age or socioeconomic background. It doesn’t discriminate against gender or race. It can destroy the lives of even the most successful individuals. People who suffer from addiction do not necessarily fit a particular personality type. In fact, the faces of addiction are not always so obvious – they are everyday people, like a stressed-out honor roll student or a busy soccer mom.

From the outside looking in, drug or alcohol addiction may seem like a series of bad choices, or perhaps a lack of self-control. The truth is that addiction is a chronic disease that causes overwhelmingly compulsive behaviors. These behaviors are uncontrollable and continue to progress in the lives of those who are affected by this disease.

Once addiction begins, the ability to reason and make sound judgments is impaired. People suffering from this disease look forward to the gratification and perceived fulfillment that drugs or alcohol provide. Addiction can supersede even the most important elements of everyday life, including a person’s closest relationships.

But a person struggling with substance abuse cannot merely ‘snap out of it’. Addiction is not self-indulgence or recreational – it’s a real disease that changes the brain. Scientists have spent years researching the power of addiction and how it works. Though there is still much to be learned about the complexity of chronic substance abuse, researchers do understand the basic components of addiction and the human body.

Factors that Influence Addiction

Addiction is not a condition that one is born with, but rather something that develops as a direct result of changes in the brain. The truth is there are many factors that influence addiction.

In fact, people with addictive personalities or other risk factors may become addicted to food, exercise, or video games in order to satisfy a craving. On the other hand, some people can experiment or recreationally engage in drinking or other behaviors without becoming addicted to them. In fact, only 1 in 10 who experiment with drugs ever become addicted.

So what exactly drives a person to become dependent on alcohol, drugs, or other habits? Could the problem be environmental or perhaps even genetic? Researchers from the National Institute on Drug Abuse have found that the answer is different for everyone, both environmental and biological factors can influence the likelihood that a person will develop an addiction.

Biological Factors Influencing Addiction

Although anyone of any age can develop addictive behaviors, adolescents are particularly susceptible to dependency. The adolescent brain is underdeveloped and particularly short on decision-making skills.

Teenagers are not only more likely to take a risk by trying drugs or alcohol, but they are also more likely to continue using throughout life.

For example, the University of Utah Genetic Science Learning Center found that 9 in 10 adults who currently smoke cigarettes first began using nicotine before their 18th birthdays. Similarly, 4 in 10 teenagers who begin drinking at age 13 or younger will develop alcoholism.

Genes are also linked to addiction. Unlike some diseases, for which risk is easily calculated by identifying the presence of a single gene, there is not one gene responsible for addiction. Instead, researchers have found that addiction occurs as the result of many gene interactions. Certain genes seem to be more closely linked to addiction than others, but testing for known addiction genes is not possible.

Furthermore, having a gene associated with addiction does not necessarily mean that a person will indeed develop an addiction.

Instead, anyone with a family history of addiction should exercise caution when abusing substances.

Environmental Factors Influencing Addiction

Environment a person is exposed to plays a significant role in addiction. After all, a person may have biological tendencies toward drug or alcohol addiction, but those symptoms may not appear until they are triggered by an environmental factor. People of all ages are much more likely to use drugs if they associate with people who abuse drugs.

In addition to early drug and alcohol use, other factors can also increase the risk of developing an addiction. Family conflict, stress, violence, abuse, and childhood trauma are all common examples. People are especially prone to developing an addiction when they are unable to cope with periods of transition. Change brings about new challenges, changes in relationships, and stress.

For an adult this could be a new job, promotion, divorce, the birth of a child, or the loss of a loved one. For a child, this could be changes to household dynamic, transfer to a new school, the loss of a loved one, or greater academic challenges.

There may not be a specific cause for addiction, but addiction is a preventable and treatable disease. Knowing the risk factors is the first step to preventing addiction.