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this might seem like the stupidest question ever,... but a friend at work asked me it..and i didnt know the answer...
.....does and alcoholic pass on the "addiction" genes to his/her children?
is it in fact hereditory? ..(i know my ex's grandmother was fond of her drink but no one else in the family has a drinking problem except my ex which would be her grandson)
i thought it skipped a generation....but then again seeing all the stories in here about mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers having it then im totally confused.
i don't think anyone knows FOR SURE. i do know that your chances of having an addiction is higher if someone in your family has one. my great grandpa, my grandpa, my dad=all alcoholics. but my dad has 7 brothers and 2 sisters and none of them have addiction problems. so the answer from me is who knows. there is no certainty in the matter. just b/c someone had the problem doesn't mean your life is destined to end up the same way. this may or not be wrong to say (i'm new here), but i think it is a personal choice.
I beleive that they have actually identified an addiction gene, so the answer is yes. However, I'm not exactly who or how it is passed down. I don't know if that's even known yet.
My family has "The Irish Curse", on my father's side it's both my grand parents, my father, my cousin and my brother. On my mom's side it's her grandfather, and her brother.
Actually I was told it takes 9 generations of sobriety to remove the gene of addiction. Can u imagine how long that actually is? So yes...everything I have learned says it is hereditary.
From what I have learned, there is for sure a hereditary aspect to it. How much of that is genetic, and how much is from growing up with A's and learning bad ways of dealing with the world, I don't think has been researched.
One thing that has been studied is that children of A's who start drinking in their teens are much more likely to become A's themselves than either children of nonA's or children of A's who don't drink until they are adults.
I have teenage kids, and have talked with them about this quite a bit. My husband is sober now, but they remember what it used to be like, and they see how hard he has to work to keep sober. They REALLY don't want this for themselves. We are working as a family on 'innoculating' them from the disease - teaching them the facts about the danger they are in, teaching them healthy ways of dealing with their own feelings, teaching them better ways to resolve conflict...we are all just learning this stuff, but all working hard on being emotionally healthy people. I'm hoping it will help, but only time will tell.
I also believe that it is hereditary. My husband is one of seven children, all but two are alcoholics, His father is an alcoholic and I couldn't tell you beyond that because of the "ism" we don't talk about it. They rarely even talk about the ones living in their midst. But as for me, I have chosen to be open and honest with my children. They need to be educated. They do not need it sugar coated. They need to know the brutal honest truth. That their father never once, not once, drank without alcoholic tendency. From the very first time at age 10. I tell them that when they are faced with this decision, it is not about whether or not they may get grounded, it is a life choice, or at least could be and is that peer pressure worth a lifetime of fighting an addiction that could likely kill you. They need to be educated. They need the truth.
