[manaboutown]

Originally Posted by MightyDog

I'm thinking it's likely that Native American alcoholism remains high because a great many of them live in their communities/cultures where consuming it in excess is common.

This is the point that is relevant, imo. From OBB, above.


To bolster it (and also sorta support your point), I had a long, interesting conversation with a nationally-renowned psychiatrist at a party many years ago. I asked him about genetic/family behavior predisposition versus upbringing and he replied (paraphrasing), "That the genetic/familial patterns are there and part of a person but, if they are raised in an environment quite different from those (like in adoption situations), those predispositions/patterns can become quite modified because they aren't being reinforced." Makes sense to me.

An example would be a Native American baby that is adopted shortly after birth and grows-up, say, in a white family in Lexington, KY who only drinks alcohol on holidays. So, the kid doesn't grow-up with much exposure to alcohol - I'm thinking that makes he/she less likely to become a booze addict than if the child grew-up surrounded by those who are and where 'the drink' is a big part of everyday life. Same with violence, verbal abusiveness, etc.

Nature vs. Nurture has been debated a long time.

Personally if I wanted a guard dog I would choose a Doberman over a Lab. If I wanted a friendly large dog family pet I would go for the Lab. That being said my daughter has had two easy going Dobermans but they needed her OK before they got friendly with a stranger. Instinct and all that I suppose.

Nature versus nurture - Wikipedia.