Contrary to Zapolski et al., Black and Latino drinkers in our sample were younger, not older, than White drinkers, and it was young drinkers who were particularly vulnerable to problems at a given level of consumption. This finding is not entirely incompatible with the proposal that a history of heavy drinking can exacerbate the effects of current heavy drinking; this seems particularly likely for chronic health conditions, not assessed here. However, young—and single—people may face worse immediate consequences when they drink for similar reasons as poor and stigmatized groups: that is, increased scrutiny, bias, and differences in the conditions surrounding drinking. Results also did not support expectations that conservative norms among minorities would contribute to racial/ethnic disparities. Instead, we found that consequences were worse, at a given drinking level, when perceived norms were more permissive. This effect may be driven by riskier and more public drinking among those with permissive norms.
