2012). Therefore, ADH1B-rs1229984 appears to have a stronger effect on alcohol consumption, and consequently the progression to AUDs, among those with childhood adversity, a group in which alcohol consumption would likely be increased. We considered the effect of ADH1B-rs1229984 on alcohol phenotypes in the presence or absence of childhood adversity (instead of the effect of adversity in the presence or absence of the GG genotype) to be consistent with much of the gene-environment interaction literature, which considers environmental moderation of a genetic effect (Brody et al., 2007, Kaufman et al., 2006, Madrid et al., 2001, Dick et al., 2011, van der Zwaluw CS et al., 2012). However, due to the “agnostic” nature of statistical interaction analysis, results also support the alternative interpretation that ADH1B-rs1229984 moderates the effects of childhood adversity on risk for alcohol-related phenotypes in this sample.
