In the current study, additional racial disparities in risk for AUD were also revealed: MDD significantly increased the hazard in AA women while cannabis dependence and paternal alcohol problems increased the hazard for EA women only. The increased risk associated with MDD in AA women suggests that internalizing pathways to AUD may be more prominent among AA women. Although externalizing disorders are more commonly linked to substance related-behaviors (Zucker, 2008), internalizing behaviors, such as MDD, are also known to elevate risk for AUD (Colder, Chassin, Lee, & Villalta, 2010; Swendsen & Merikangas, 2000). Racial disparities in the impact of cannabis dependence for AUD point to racial difference in substance use and initiation, consistent with previous research showing a higher prevalence of co-occurring of alcohol and cannabis involvement in EA women and greater likelihood of AA than EA women to initiate cannabis before alcohol use (Sartor et al., 2013). Additionally, the finding that paternal alcohol problems trended toward association with AUD in EA, but not AA, women could be an indicator of lower paternal impact on behaviors in the AA versus
