Gary > wrote:
> Sylvia wrote:

> > > It's called "conditioning".
> >
> > Unless your parents were urging you to drink or associating it with
> > something positive (parental approval? being like dad?), conditioning
> > wouldn't apply. Conditioning would be getting the kid past the initial
> > "yuck" reaction to get used to it. Peter's margaritas aren't very
> > strong either, but our kids still have no desire to try them more than
> > once. Maybe I misunderstood, but it sounded like you actually liked the
> > drinks, and that is more typical of a genetic predisposition than
> > conditioning.

> I can't speak for sis, but apparently I did like it, as I would go back and
> forth trying to get sips of beer or highballs. But, sis didn't become an
> alcoholic, and I did. If it were pure genetics, wouldn't we both have become
> alcoholics?

No. Not all the same genetic traits are inherited by children
of the same parents (except for identical twins). Siblings
might have different eye colors, for example. This does not mean
that alcoholism is purely genetic, but it can be, and probably is,
at least partly a genetic. Also, a genetic prediposition does
not guarantee something. Some people have a genetic predispostion
to certain types of cancer, but some of those people with that
genetic trait won't ever get cancer. Unlike eye color, there are
other factors that get involved with genetic predispositions.

Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.