longer heavy drinking trajectories and restrictions in access to, and use of, health services among poor Black populations may exacerbate the negative effects of heavy drinking. Finally, Zapolski et al. acknowledge that biological vulnerability to the effects of alcohol may differ across race/ethnicity; for example, some evidence suggests that Black males are more sensitive than White males to both positive and negative effects of alcohol, which may have an underlying genetic basis (Pedersen and McCarthy, 2009, 2013). Zapolski’s ideas are predated by work by Jones-Webb and Herd, who pointed out that poverty and residence in poor, predominantly Black neighborhoods may be associated with social conditions increasing the risk of alcohol problems among Black men. Indeed, their analyses suggest that Black-White differences in alcohol problems are greatest among the poor and those living in poor neighborhoods (Herd, 1994; Jones-Webb et al., 1997a, 1995). Others have likewise found that poor neighborhoods connote higher risk for heavy drinking and alcohol disorders (Karriker-Jaffe, 2011; Karriker-Jaffe et al., 2012).
