2013b). However, despite their lower rates of trauma exposure, problem drinking is more common in EA than AA women (Grucza et al., 2008, Sartor et al., 2013b). This seemingly paradoxical relationship between trauma exposure and alcohol outcomes in EA and AA women suggests existing environmental etiological models of AUD development do not fit as well for AA as EAs. Previous research has identified racial variations in risk and protective factors for alcohol involvement including: exposure to household violence (Bossarte and Swahn, 2008), neighborhood context (Tobler et al., 2011), and alcohol expectancies (Chartier et al., 2009). Furthermore, African American women have been underrepresented in alcohol research (Zemore et al., 2013), and racial differences in specific types of trauma-related risk factors for alcohol use may have gone undetected.
