Psychological & Social Risk Factors (AQA A Level Psychology)

Stress & personality as risk factors

• Chronic stress may increase the likelihood of someone becoming addicted to substances and behaviours that give temporary relief as a way of coping with the stress

• If a person has good social support, then this can reduce the likelihood of stress resulting in addiction

• Conversely, the stress associated with poverty and overcrowded living conditions can increase the likelihood of a person turning to addictive substances

• There is a correlation between poor and overcrowded urban areas and high levels of people with addictions

• However, this does not mean that overcrowding and poverty cause addiction, as people with addictions may move to live in these areas because housing costs are cheaper and there is greater availability of addictive substances

• There is also the possibility that addiction increases stress due to the social problems and poverty it can cause, leading to yet more substance abuse in an effort to cope

• Personality traits may be a risk factor for addiction e.g. people with a Pathological personality may be vulnerable to addiction because the addictive substance or behaviour offers them relief from their negativity

• People with a pathological personality may be more stressed and find life difficult, and so the temporary high gained from gambling or drinking alcohol, for example, would increase their likelihood of doing it

• Some psychologists have proposed an addictive personality as a risk factor, with high neuroticism levels predisposing to addictions (Eysenck, 1997)

• High levels of psychoticism have also been linked to addiction, as the pleasurable feelings associated with substance dependence helpe reduce feelings of aggression and emotional detachment (Eysenck, 1997)

• Cloninger (1987) suggested a tri-dimensional theory of addictive behaviour, saying that people who were inclined to be addicted had imbalances in three temperament dimensions

  • Harm avoidance - the amount that a person worries and sees the negative elements of a situation, make them cautious, apprehensive, and likely to avoid risky behaviours

  • Novelty seeking - an individual will actively and impulsively seek new environments and exciting experiences

  • Reward dependence - a strong need for approval and social attachments, being motivated by the anticipation of positive outcomes

• People who are high on novelty seeking and low on harm avoidance, with a need to fit in socially may be at risk of becoming addicted to substances and behaviours that gain them approval and provide excitement

Novelty-seeking and reward dependence can lead to addictive behaviour.

Family influence & peers as risk factors

• Family influences can operate through social learning or through expectancies

• Social learning is when the child observes family role models (parents or other family members) enjoying smoking and/or drinking alcohol, and so the child learns through watching the enjoyment the smoker or drinker experiences (vicarious reinforcement) that this is a positive and pleasurable thing to do

• Social learning theory can explain how the imitation of family role models may constitute a risk factor for addiction

• Expectancies are schemas formed from learning and experience in the family environment which allow the child to predict their parents’ reaction if the child tries these addictive substances e.g. My parents will go mad if they know I’ve been smoking

• Expectancies explain how perception of family approval of the behaviour can be a risk factor e.g. My parents are totally cool with me smoking

• If a child believes their parents approve of an addictive behaviour by engaging in it themselves, then the child feels free to try the activity, as they do not fear disapproval

• Peer influence is a potentially great risk factor for addiction, as the same principles of social learning and expectancies apply as with family influence

• Peer pressure has been linked to first-time use of nicotine and recreational drugs, especially in adolescence

Peer pressure can be linked to first-time use of nicotine and recreational drugs.

Research which investigates psychological and social risk factors

• Howard et al (1997) conducted a meta-analysis of research investigating Cloninger’s tri-dimensional theory and found that novelty seeking predicted alcohol abuse, but harm avoidance and reward dependence had a less consistent relationship with addiction

• Bonomo et al (2001) found teenagers who had experienced an alcohol-related injury were significantly more likely than others to have parents who drank alcohol daily

Evaluation of psychological and social risk factors

Strengths

• Research evidence suggests that certain personality traits are high in predictive validity with regards to addictive behaviour, so lending support to the theories of Eysenck (1997) and Cloninger (1987)

• Identifying risk factors such as the influence of family and peers can lead to educational campaigns in schools to help reduce the start of substance dependence in vulnerable teenagers.

Weaknesses

• There is bidirectional ambiguity in the correlation between the stressful poverty and overcrowding and the associated addiction, as it is not always clear which came first, the addiction or the stressful living conditions

• There are mediating cognitive processes that influence whether a behaviour is imitated e.g. motivation to try the substance, emotional response to the substance/activity, level of individual self-efficacy 

Link to Issues & Debates: 

The influences of stress, family influence and peers are environmental and fall on the nurture side of the nurture-nature debate. However, personality traits have been argued by Eysenck (1997) to be partially inherited, making personality to some extent due to nature.  This seems to suggest an interactionist perspective overall would be appropriate.

Link to Approaches:

The research into family and peer influences as risk factors comes mainly from  the learning approaches, especially social learning theory, including imitation of addictive behaviours, identification with role models, modelling of substance use or substance dependence by parents and peers and vicarious reinforcement through continual observation of this behaviour within the family and friendship group.