General Chat

Until recently (last couple of years), I always beleived in "nurture".

Someone I know well was adopted at 6 weeks of age and brought up in a very loving home. Love and hugs always were and still are in plentiful supply plus support emotionally and in every other way.

A few years ago, with adoptive parents support, this person sought out and made contact with birth mother plus "full" siblings.

The birth siblings had a very different childhood but the Mum did the best that she could, at the time.

The person concerned is a "recovering alcoholic" and it turns out that most of the siblings have "drink problems" and/or other addictions (not drugs).



Their "genes" are now being blamed.

Is this an excuse or do you believe, like me, that we all make our own choices in life?

i think alcoholism can and does run in familys, wether this be genetic, of from what they have been brought up with i dont no,

It's a fascinating subject.

Two children can be brought up in exactly the same way ...same parents, same morals, same rules and yet still turn out totally different..yes we're all different...but i think nature plays such a huge part in it all ...which often I think is underestimated x

I think it's possible that genetically you have a pre-disposition to certain family traits, in this instance perhaps to inheriting an 'addictive' personality ..that might show itself in being addicted to the 'wrong things' like alchohol and drugs or gambling...or just cups of coffee ( in my case lol).

Lol Rose. I don't think that coffee has been known to destroy a family ... mine would have been blown to smitherines long ago :-D

Don't get me wrong, I don't think that alcohol is the "root of all evil. I have been known to partake of the odd (!!) glass of vino on many occasion

;-)

I just think that, in retrospect, this person is blaming his alcoholism on his genes. The problem did not manifest itself until he was in hos forties and feel that it is just a "cop out"

I was going to say the same thing, emotional and personality traits in my opinion are more likely to be inherited traits, while the ability to deal with those are nurtured into us, or not as the case may be.

if it were all 'nurture' then we wouldn't need any of these genes at all :-)

but if it were all 'nature' then we wouldn't need our parents after we were born ...

'nurture' can counteract 'nature' in some ways is how I look at it, but it can' t make you taller or blonder or mean you are not at risk of heart disease ... but you can wear high heels and dye your hair ... and not eat so many chips !

Knowing that there may be problems in your genes, like alcoholism or heart disease, can help to make you extra careful about your behaviour so you steer away from what your genes are trying to do. And of course good home life and schools and such can help do that.

or ... what Teresa said :-D

Then again my relative always trots out that the family were "prone to alchoholism, TB, moving house a lot...and dying young"

None of which is actually truer of my family than it is of any other from the same background.... but of course it is your own family that you see a 'pattern' in, because it's the family you know best lol.

my family has been prone to gambing ..... at least my grandfather that I knew ... it was very amazing when I 'met' some distant cousins through Genes ( that is all I knew about here at first, searching trees ) one in another part of England and one in America ( not a close family ! ) and found that their grandparents were just the same ... gamblers ... in both the female and male lines of the family ! ... and also drinkers, like my grandfather ...

I wonder whether gambling is 'nature' or 'nurture' ? :-)

Nature vs nurture seems to omit the individual personality - and their personal view of their upbringing.
My elder sister(by 4 years), when talking of events in our childhood have totally different views.

How does nature/nurture explain my ggrandfather, who became a Metropolitan policeman in 1851 - with a recommendation from the vicar, and, at the same time, his brother who (from the newspaper reports was an early 'hoodie') was incarcerated in jail for trying to derail a train to steal whatever was on it?
Gran says he (the policeman) was a very moral man-he actually managed to stay in the police force for 25 years, (many were thrown out for being drunk) and was one of the first to receive a pension!

Nope I cant see it is a gene thing both my parents never drank but 2 out of the 3 of us, have be known to take a drink....however both my parents siblings and parents liked a drink...


Hiya Libby love how are you? Hows yer Mam love <3 <3

I suppose as addictive behaviour was in his/her genes what ever happened at the age of 40 meant he or she turned to alcohol as a prop and so nurture did not come to the fore. But then you have the environmental issue of alcohol being so cheap and easy to buy.

Vera

I saw a programe a couple of weeks ago where a family believed it had a gene which made them prone to put on weight.

Tests were done on the family and the Dr hosting the programe to show who had the gene.

The stick thin Dr had the weight gene and the Family who thought they had it didnt.
In this case it was nurture which made them prone to weight gain and not their genes

Teresa :-)

But Hayley, were talking about addiction, not taking the occasional drink in a controlled and sensible manner.

I do believe the addictive personality can be genetic, but as I said before, the ability to control that so that say, drinking, doesn' tbecome addiction, is down to how we are brought up and the examples we are given through our early years.

Libby, I think some of us aren't as well equipped to deal with life and situations as others, regardless of our upbringing or genetics.

My late brother-in-law was one of a big family and got into that circle of feeling like the black sheep and behaving like it. He was brought up the same as the others but got into drink and drugs and developed that self pitying/ world is against me thing that either comes with the personality, the addiction or a combination of the two.

From my experience, I'd say that people are on a range of being completely a product of nature to completely a product of nurture with all the variations inbetween - don't think there's any accurate line. But I also think these days that life isn't what you make it, it's a combination of what you are and what joys and sorrows life throws at you.