Expanding the family systems approach: Cultural, class, developmental and gender influences in drug abuse

Family and Community Burdens of Addiction: case-mix analysis at a new community-based methadone treatment service

“…Social learning theory (Peele, 1985), constructivist and systems thinking (Menicucci & Wermuth, 1989) seem useful in understanding the intergenerational family transmission of addiction traits and lifestyles, while there are many detailed sociological studies both of poverty and of the process whereby deviant norms are transmitted (Oetting & Donnermeyer, 1998). Exposure to sexual assault, domestic and street violence, mental health crises and suicide in the course of childhood and adolescence can be expected to leave a legacy of post-traumatic stress and, in the absence of meaningful therapy, some tendency towards self-medication with sedating drugs.…”

Toward a preliminary macro theory of drug addiction

“…Earlier work established addiction as a product of structural arrangements in freemarket, industrial nations like the United States (Merton 1938;Cloward and Ohlin 1960). Menicucci and Wermuth (1989) recently noted social class variations in addiction. Edwards and Arif (1980) concurred that such structural factors-including economic development, poverty, and political repression-help produce addiction in many nations.…”

“…Other sociological critiques (Musto 1987;Ben-Yehuda 1990;Levine and Reinarman 1991;Reinarman 1993) have revealed the cultural, political, and economic dimensions of alcoholism that influence microetiological models or lines of inquiry and the problems that lie therein. DRUG ADDICTION 355 To date, no such theory of addiction exists, despite a plethora of macro-level studies providing evidence for multicultural (e.g., Wurzman et al 1982;Beauvis and LaBoueff 1985;Harvey 1985;Mendes de Leon and Markides 1986;Caetano 1987;Sue 1987;Yee and Thu 1987;Kitano et al 1988), gender-oriented (Rosenbaum 1981 ;Bepko 1991 ;van den Bergh 1991 ;Henderson and Boyd 1992;Pohl and Boyd 1992), or class-based (Preble and Casey 1969;Menicucci and Wermuth 1989) models.…”

Family approaches to the problems of addictions: Recent developments.

“…Rittinhouse and Miller (1984) suggest that a social learning approach can be useful in understanding family dyads. Menicucci and Wermuth (1989) conclude that the family systems approach is useful with adolescents but is overextended when it tries to encompass adults who have long histories of drug problems and for whom other factors assume more importance, including culture, social class, life cycle stages, and gender issues. In short, the existing model appears to have been thoroughly explored and, perhaps, overinterpreted.…”