Heavy alcohol consumption significantly impacts public health by increasing physical and mental health problems and related costs (Rehm et al., 2009). Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are also associated with substantial impairment and comorbidity (Merikangas & McClair, 2012). Many factors influence the risk for these drinking phenotypes, including genetic and environmental factors (Kendler, Myers, & Prescott, 2007), which may act together to increase risk for problematic alcohol use. While the evidence for gene-environment interactions in substance use is growing (Dick & Kendler, 2012a; Xie et al., 2012; Young-Wolff, Enoch, & Prescott, 2011), much remains to be understood about the interaction of specific genetic variants with specific environmental risk factors in the etiology of harmful drinking phenotypes.
