There is a recognizable shortage of genetic studies of alcohol consumption and related phenotypes in U.S. racial/ethnic minority populations (the focus of this special issue). This is occurring alongside a growing interest in understanding how environmental conditions enhance or reduce genetic effects in light of long-held evidence that sociocultural factors and the built environment are associated with levels of alcohol consumption and risk for related problems in U.S. racial/ethnic minority populations (e.g., Karriker-Jaffe et al.1, Zapolski et al.2, Zemore et al.3). The current review seeks to bring together two large areas of alcohol research in racial/ethnic minority populations. The first are studies of relationships between genes and the environment (G–E) and the second are alcohol epidemiologic studies, and both literatures include a range of features of drinking, from normative behaviors to binge or heavy drinking and alcohol use disorder (AUD).
