Summary: Biological Influences

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Biological Influences:
What are Biological Influences? Biological influence is something that can affect a person’s behavior and the way they carry themselves whether it is physically or psychologically. Research that has been conducted in the past has found that people can be prone to develop alcoholism. This can be a direct result of genetics. For example, when a mother consumes alcohol while pregnant, the child may be more likely to become an alcoholic when they reach adulthood. During the time the child was in the womb, the mother was taking in alcohol and the baby was as well. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention), “Alcohol in the mother's blood passes to the baby through the umbilical cord. Drinking alcohol
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One of these factors is depression and that can be caused by a variety of things. A traumatic experience such as a family death, a near death encounter, or being a victim of things such as sexual assault can be a huge contributor to drug abuse. As stated in an article titled “Sexual Assault and Substance Abuse” from prandicenter.org, “When compared to non-victims, rape survivors were 3.4 times more likely to use marijuana, 6 times more likely to use cocaine, and 10 times more likely to use other major drugs. (Orsillo, S. Sexual Assault Among Females. National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, 2000.).” This small sample size shows exactly how much a traumatic experience such as sexual assault can influence drug abuse. The individual may feel as though drugs or alcohol are their only way to cope with the pain that they feel. Such acts can also lead to psychological conditions such as depression. Although depression and drug use aren’t exactly a cause of each other, it has been widely recognized that those who do and have suffered from depression, typically become drug or alcohol consumers. According to the article titled “Substance Abuse and Mental Health” from helpguide.org, “37 percent of alcohol abusers and 53 percent of drug abusers also have at least one serious mental illness.” This was found according to reports that were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, …show more content…
Social media has begun to play a big role as to how much exposure young people receive when it comes to drugs. Whether it's friends, musicians, ads, or even family members on social media, young people are being exposed to this content and therefore many begin to grow curious and experiment with certain drugs. According to an article titled “The Rise of Technology” from teenrehabcenter.org, “Recent studies show that 75% of teenagers seeing photos on social networks of other teens smoking weed or drinking encourages them to party in the same way. Teens who have come across these kinds of photos online are 4 times more likely to have used marijuana and more than 3 times more likely to have consumed alcohol.” This is a significant social influence because social media enables a larger sample size of people to be exposed to drugs. With the impact of social media, more and more underage teens are beginning to consume and abuse both drugs such as marijuana, and alcohol as well. Also according to the article titled “Drug Overdose Rates Soaring among U.S. Youth” from healthyday.com, “Nationwide, the drug overdose death rate has more than doubled during the past decade among people aged 12 to 25 -- rising from 3.1 deaths per 100,000 in 1999-2001 to 7.3 deaths in 2011-2013, according to the Trust for America's Health report.” It's clear that social media has played just as big of a