deprivation of something when younger causes an addiction when older?

I really believe that this kind of social conditioning affects people but I just want to know your opinion. I’ll give you an example for myself- my mother always forbid me from eating fast food now that I have the freedom to buy it I kinda opt for it because of all the years I wasn’t allowed. I know this is a basic example but you get my jist. Almost like pushing people to rebel?

Not necessarily. I was always forbidden from doing drugs, getting drunk, and partying.

Even now, I find those things lame, and don't partake in them.

But I do find the things that were encouraged as attractive, such as reading and writing, being creative, being into computers, playing and listening to music, video games, and everything geeky.

I think it happens when they deprive you of something you WANT. For me it was videogames...

I kinda agree, and kinda disagree. I didn't have pop when I was really young, and I used to drink it alot. When I started being allowed to ask for it, I drank it because it was there. And then I wanted more. I think I was addicted to pop, and I almost stopped drinking it completely about three months back (Except for rootbeer when eating out. I love rootbeer and won't give it up) Until I went away to work for a month and it was pop or coffee to drink. Then I was drinking 12 cans in 2 or three days, plus once or 2 at work per day. It's because I wasn't allowed to have it often, I wanted it to begin with. On the other hand, I never really had the whole "drugs are bad. Drinking is bad. Partying is bad" and yet I've never partied, or done drugs, and only occasionally drink. Probably because I never wanted to.

I thinks it the whole you want it because you can't have it thing, for the most part. Like a little kid not playing with a toy, until you take it away from him, then he cries and wants it back...

I think it can have an affect, but I think there is an easy step a parent can take to help prevent issues when the child is older and that is to educate them as to the reason why they are not aloud to indulge. And just telling them its bad is not enough. They need to understand your thought process, and how you make your decisions. That way they can make a hopefully educated decision.

When I was little we were poor, and I couldn't always eat when I was hungry. Now as an adult I have a bad habit of eating as much as I can get whenever it is offered, even if I'm not hungry, because I grew up with the mentality that I had to eat when food was available, since I didn't know when my next meal would come.

Another habit that came from that is a hesitancy to use nice things, or throw things away. I didn't get much in the way of toys or clothes or gifts, so what I did have I wanted to protect. If something broke it was not likely to ever be replaced, so I would only play with or use the items I didn't really care for. As an adult I still hesitate to use anything I really like. It doesn't even have to be something expensive, it might be something as simple as my favorite dishcloth, which even now I have tucked away safely in the back of a drawer. It's kind of weird.

It's not like that with everything though. I was rarely allowed snack foods, soda, or other sugary drinks. I have more of them now than I did as a kid, but I still don't find myself buying them all that much.

I'm with Felix on this. When I was younger, there were plenty of things I would have liked, that others got, but I didn't. Now I wildly over-compensate. I have the sweetest tooth. I eat fast food quite often. I like to buy tech. Thankfully, I have good self control and growing up in poverty has made me good with money. I always save what I feel I have to. Usually 25-50 percent of my income.