Psychologist: Substance abuse, in a sense, is both genetic and learned  Some families may have a predisposition to depression or anxiety, which is known to increase an individual' s use of substances  Children who have parents who abused substances are four times more likely than the average person to abuse substances
The latter, however, is up for debate on whether this statistic is due to genetic predisposition or learned behavior
The proof for the genetic factor in substance abuse lies in the fact that there may be indirect genes within families, such as depression or anxiety, that increase the potential use for substance abuse.