I find the whole nature vs nurture debate to be interesting. If my mother had gotten sober and not made me her drinking buddy as a teenager would I still have become dependant on alcohol? Do my children have the gene if there is one? Will the fact that I've quit make a difference in their choices regarding alcohol and drug use?
What about people who are adopted? I know a guy who's adopted from a very religious family so was raised by parents who were not drinkers but he's an alcoholic for sure. Was there alcoholism in his biological family history?
I know these questions don't matter much within the context of AVRT. And I'm not offering any of this up as excuses, but perhaps as explanations. My gut tells me that I inherited a disposition, vulnerability to alcoholism, just like I inherited my mother's green eyes. But there's no doubt that there was a social and family conditioning there as well. Children learn what they are taught.