In spite of the above limitations, these analyses demonstrate that genetic factors are integrally involved in liability to alcohol use in college-aged students, at both individual variant and aggregate levels. Furthermore, the effects of many genetic variants are consistent across ethnicities, suggesting shared biological mechanisms. Critically, replication in an independent UK cohort indicates that the observed genetic effects are generalizable within a similarly aged cohort. These findings validate prior evidence of specific and general genetic effects on alcohol outcomes, and provide nascent support for novel loci that merit additional research.
