What Affects Your Risk For Alcohol- And Drug-Use Problems: You Get To Choose!

Abstract

You may have heard that the risk of some health problems, such as heart attacks or diabetes can be affected by a person’s diet and physical activity level. Did you know that there are also things in a person’s life that affect their risk of developing an alcohol- or drug-use problem? Scientists have identified risk factors that make people more likely to develop an addiction to alcohol or drugs. Certain risk factors cannot be changed, but others can be. This article reviews what we know about these risk factors.