Efforts to understand genetic influences on alcohol use outcomes in AAs clearly lag behind studies in populations of European descent. Virtually all twin studies have been conducted in European or European–American populations. The differing rates and patterns of alcohol use among AAs, coupled with significantly different environmental circumstances within AA populations, suggests that the genetic epidemiology of alcohol use outcomes is likely to vary in AAs. With no large scale twin studies in populations of African descent in existence, next to nothing is known about how genetic and environmental influences impact alcohol use outcomes across development specifically in AAs.
