Family

• Families can influence addictive behaviour through:

  -social learning

  -expectations
• Social learning theory:

  -social learning is the learning of behaviour by observation of role models in the environment.

  -If the individual sees that model rewarded for their behaviour then the vicarious reinforcement is going to increase likelihood of the observer imitating the behaviour.

  -It is clear how that could occur with addictive substances within a family. However, the addiction is not the imitated behaviour its the desire to try the substance that is the influence.
• Expectancy theory

  -expectancies are the associations we make from observing the environment around us. e.g. if we smoke cigarettes we appear cool because we saw older people do this.

  -These expectations are formed from our learning and experience which in turn is often our home environment. They are a form of schemas. This can then explain to some extent how our family can influence our likelihood of addiction. It can increase or decrease likelihood of trying substances or behaviours.