between alcohol dependence and 6 of 7 dimensions of adult religiosity were attributable to overlapping genetic factors alone (rg −.18 to −.32). Kendler and Myers23 reported that negative correlations between church attendance and alcohol use during adolescence are modest (r −.22 at ages 12–14) and attributable to familial environment. By adulthood, the correlation was stronger (r −.47) and more significantly attributable to additive genetic (62%) influences. Finally, Maes et al.29 used an extended kinship design to demonstrate that while genetic factors contributed to the relationship between church attendance and alcohol use, the most critical contributor to the association in females was genotype-environment covariance (ie, correlations between parental and offspring behaviors via genetic and cultural pathways). These studies indicate a complex relationship between dimensions of religiosity measured during childhood and adulthood and stages of alcohol involvement; however, none of these studies were based on ethnically diverse samples. In order to more systematically address potential sources of alcohol-related disparities across Whites and Blacks, a comparison of patterns of genetic and environmental influence on alcohol involvement, religious service attendance, and their correlation is needed in ethnically diverse twin samples.
