Tom is an alcoholic. His psychologist says that he began drinking at age 13 because his parents spent a lot of time at work, and
he started hanging out with friends who drank. He began to build an identity that was based upon his ability to party and consume excessive amounts of alcohol. In college, he found a ready-made group of friends in a fraternity who loved to down kegs full of beer. Tom’s drinking gave him a community of friends who accepted him, even when he felt uncared for by his parents. Which approach best characterizes this psychologist’s interpretation of Tom’s addiction?
As you can see from the question above, Tom had a lonely childhood, as his parents were not present in their daily lives because of work. With this, Tom sought to get rid of this loneliness with friends, but the friends that Tom met were young people who had the habit of drinking alcohol and to be part of this group, Tom began to drink alcohol as well. This behavior accompanied Tom throughout his adult life, and it seemed that his partying and high-alcohol behavior brought more friends into his life.
From this account, we can see that Tom's alcohol addiction is directly related to a sociocultural factor that keeps Tom from drinking, believing that this will bring him friendships and prevent him from feeling alone.
