Social science Factors That Contribute to Addiction
Contributing Factors for Addiction
Any person is prone to addiction regardless of their background and beliefs; however, some people are more to addiction than others. It is therefore prudent to assume that regardless of one’s upbringing, several factors can increase the risk of one being addicted. From a social science standpoint, addiction may take many forms, including substance, impulse, and behavioral addiction (Chung, Lee, & Lee, 2019).
There are several contributing factors to addiction, mainly environmental, biological, social, and emotional. Addiction may be because of a single factor, or it can be multifactorial.
Treatment options often stem from resolving the underlying issues.Biological factors such as genetics affect addiction, mainly due to genetic predisposition that often causes neurotransmitter imbalance causing brain dysfunction.
These brain dysfunctions mainly cause an individual to crave substances they may not have been subjected to directly. From a social point of view, individuals may be subjected to addiction through peer pressure (Ewald, Strack, & Orsini, 2019). Peer pressure is arguably one of the most significant social factors many young people are predisposed to substance addiction.
Additionally, human beings learn from observing; unfortunately, people also learn about addiction by copying what others are doing (Ewald, Strack, & Orsini, 2019). Environmental factors also contribute to addiction, including lack of parental involvement and increasing delinquency among young people. Emotional factors such as stress have mainly contributed to dependency on substances as a coping mechanism.
Prevention is the best alternative to treatment; despite the numerous risk factors knowing about them helps reduce the chances of being addicted. Fortunately, having predisposing factors does not guarantee an individual becoming an addict. Therefore, social scientists such as psychologists must ask pertinent questions such as;
a) how effective is online therapy with long-term addiction? In addition,
b) how does strategic system change in healthcare impact mental healthcare regarding addiction?
Chung, Lee, & Lee. (2019). Personal Factors, Internet Characteristics, and Environmental Factors Contributing to Adolescent Internet Addiction: A Public Health Perspective. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(23), 4635. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16234635
Ewald, D. R., Strack, R. W., & Orsini, M. M. (2019). Rethinking Addiction. Global Pediatric Health, 6, 2333794X1882194. https://doi.org/10.1177/2333794×18821943