Efforts to subtype substance dependence disorders in select ethnic minority populations are important for several reasons. First, ethnic minority populations may be more homogeneous in terms of both genetic and environmental risk factors and so they may offer advantages for characterizing these risk and protective factors for substance use disorders over more heterogeneous samples taken from the general population. Second, some ethnic minority populations bear a higher burden from some substance use disorders than the general population. Characterizing the specific risk and protective factors in these groups likely to lead to more effective treatment and prevention strategies is an important public health objective.
