its certainly a mixture of both, however a different mixture for different people. some people have virtually no alcoholism genes in their family but become alcoholics based on situation. some people who have alcoholism genes are able to recognize their risk before the chance happens for it to come to form. ultimately it comes down to personal choice but how our minds come to decisions varies from person to person. stubborn people like to think that we all have the same will power, but that simply is not the case. this coming from someone (if i'm allowed to say this myself) who has a very high will power. i'm at a pretty highly regarded university, and i have seen first hand very very smart people struggling with addiction to heroin, cocaine, cigarettes, alcohol, etc. and i also have known idiots who would never drink or do a drug of any kind. some people are certainly more prone to becoming alcoholics or drug addicts than others because of genetics. addiction is a powerful thing, and the mind is very mysterious.