When people go into addiction of any kind, there is usually more than physical dependence that is involved.
Sure, an addiction means the person is physiologically craving for a certain substance due to its capacity to produce opiate or addictive effects on the brain.
Narcotic drugs such as heroin and cocaine can actually push a person to crave more, even when he personally wills to stop consuming them.
Even alcohol and nicotine are now said to be addictive.
But when you talk about the circumstances surrounding the addiction, more essential aspects may have to be looked into in order to understand why a person goes into addiction.
No matter how some people deny it, family matters is a big factor as to why people tend to be addicted to a certain substance.
It has been found that most drug addicts belong to dysfunctional families or those where the traditional values.
Usually, these addicts grew up without adequate parental guidance because their parents were busy or were delinquents themselves.
If you are a parent of growing children, this is something you must not ignore.
Being there for your kids through this sensitive stage in their lives is very important if you want them to grow up to be responsible and God-fearing adults who are the least likely to be attracted to addictions of any sort.
It is also said that one of the most important of these values that these drug addicts seem to have not been nurtured with during their growth years is self-respect and self-esteem.
When children are reared in an environment where they are respected, they tend to grow up with the same respect for themselves.
Hence, going into any activity that makes them violate this respect for self, including substance addiction, is likely not to happen.
Teaching children self-respect is something that begins in the home.
Parents can still do their parenting roles, but even when they have to discipline the kids, they must do in a way that does not make the young ones question their worth as human beings.
When there is self-respect, self-esteem exists.
Addicts, therefore, are bred while they are young.
Their parents or elders may have not willed it to happen, but indulgent behavior such as addiction is a real possibility that children with low self-esteem and self-respect will likely face in the future.
This is how family affects the lives of individuals, whether as children or adults.