Etiologies of Excessive Behaviour: A Study of Non-Professional Peoples' Beliefs

The term ‘addiction’ is commonly used and abused. There is no universal agreement about its components and there is much debate about the activities that may be embraced as addictive. Recent developments into non-chemical (behavioural) addictions suggest that almost any behaviour whether involving the ingestion of a drug or not may be potentially addictive. This study concerned the lay perceptions and beliefs of 138 non-professional people about etiologies of seventeen different types of excessive behaviour including nine non-chemical (behavioural) activities. Results demonstrated that for most activities people hold similar views about the etiologies of behavioural excess. On the whole, people tended to view excessive drug ingested behaviours as physiological addictions most of which were additionally viewed as diseases. Non-chemical (behavioural) excesses were primarily viewed as psychological addictions, some of which were additionally viewed as moral weaknesses.The 23 items from Schuckit (1984) were a...