The Association Between Familial History of Drug Dependence and Treatment Seeking Behaviors

by

Faculty Sponsor: Valarie Nazzaro

Live Poster Session: Zoom Link

Keira Sweetnam

Keira Sweetnam is a sophomore at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. She is a Student-Athlete on the Volleyball Team. She is majoring in Mathematics and minoring in Data Analysis. She is from Marblehead, Massachusetts. Outside of volleyball, she loves Track and Field and was a competitive High Jumper throughout high school. 

Abstract:This study’s goal is to determine the association between the number of family members with drug dependency issues and treatment seeking behaviors in addicted individuals, as well as if there was a difference in association between males and females. The data is from the National Epidemiological Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions and a smaller sample of 5166 was taken of individuals with drug dependency issues. The number of drug dependent family members each individual had were summed, and their treatment seeking behavior was decided by their answer to whether or not they ever sought any form of treatment. Overall, the higher the number of drug dependent family members each individual had the higher the probability of showing treatment seeking behaviors. Men also showed more treatment seeking behaviors than women, controlling for the number of drug dependent family members. The data in this study was statistically significant.

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