Why can some individuals use alcohol without problems, while others are utterly unable to control their drinking?
Research has demonstrated that for many people, a vulnerability to alcoholism is inherited. Yet it is important to recognize that aspects of a person’s environment, such as peer influences and the availability of alcohol, also are significant influences. Both inherited and environmental influences are called “risk factors.” But risk is not destiny. Just because alcoholism tends to run in families doesn’t mean that a child of an alcoholic parent will automatically develop alcoholism.
