TY - JOUR
T1 - The Media and Behavioral Genetics
T2 - Alternatives Coexisting with Addiction Genetics
AU - Dingel, Molly J.
AU - Ostergren, Jenny
AU - McCormick, Jennifer B.
AU - Hammer, Rachel
AU - Koenig, Barbara A.
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The project described was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse [Grant number: R01 DA014577]; and the Mayo Clinic S.C. Johnson Genomics of Addiction Program.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2014.
PY - 2015/7/12
Y1 - 2015/7/12
N2 - To understand public discourse in the United States on genetic causation of behavioral disorders, we analyzed media representations of genetic research on addiction published between 1990 and 2010. We conclude first that the media simplistically represent biological bases of addiction and willpower as being mutually exclusive: behaviors are either genetically determined, or they are a choice. Second, most articles provide only cursory or no treatment of the environmental contribution. A media focus on genetics directs attention away from environmental factors. Rhetorically, media neglect the complexity underlying the etiology the addiction and direct focus back toward individual causation and responsibility.
AB - To understand public discourse in the United States on genetic causation of behavioral disorders, we analyzed media representations of genetic research on addiction published between 1990 and 2010. We conclude first that the media simplistically represent biological bases of addiction and willpower as being mutually exclusive: behaviors are either genetically determined, or they are a choice. Second, most articles provide only cursory or no treatment of the environmental contribution. A media focus on genetics directs attention away from environmental factors. Rhetorically, media neglect the complexity underlying the etiology the addiction and direct focus back toward individual causation and responsibility.
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U2 - 10.1177/0162243914558491
DO - 10.1177/0162243914558491
M3 - Article
C2 - 26392644
AN - SCOPUS:84930817439
SN - 0162-2439
VL - 40
SP - 459
EP - 486
JO - Science Technology and Human Values
JF - Science Technology and Human Values
IS - 4
ER -