Has heavy drinking affected your family? If it has, you are not alone. Almost half of

all adults in the United States (43%) have been directly affected by alcoholism or have a

parent, sibling, child or spouse affected by alcoholism. Over 76 million people in this

country are directly or indirectly affected by alcoholism, according to the National Center

Alcoholism, a pervasive public health problem whose cost is estimated at more than $150

million annually, has a strong tendency to run in families. Although it is common throughout the

general public, brothers or sisters of an alcoholic are at three to eight times greater risk of

alcoholism than a person who has no family history of the condition. The identical twin of an

alcoholic has about sixty percent chance of also becoming an alcoholic. However not everyone

from a high-risk family develops alcoholism. "Even in high-density alcoholic families, not all

children come out to be alcoholics," said Henri Begleiter, "thirty to forty percent of these kids

will end up developing the disease"(qtd. in Okie 3). It is important

environmental mechanisms is when the offspring learn to drink by watching and learning from

peer group or other family members (Velleman and Orford 56). What does the average person

Researchers have found that environment does play an important role in the situation if

alcoholism at the Wall Street Journal reported (Alcoholism: Is It Inherited? 2). The fruit flies

Some common words found in the essay are:
Henri Begleiter, Genetics Alcoholism, Alcoholism Inherited, Statistics Alcoholism, School Pharmacy, Institutes Health, Human Genetics, Responsible Drinking, Abuse Alcoholism, Piscataway Jersey, oct 2000, fruit flies, factors play, environmental mechanisms, 23 oct 2000, genetic factors, alcoholism inherited, play role, affected alcoholism, 23 oct, developing alcoholism, alcohol-specific environmental mechanisms, internet 23 oct, environmental mechanisms offspring, human internet 23,
Approximate Word count = 1472
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)