Gender differences in resting EEG coherence have been observed in previous studies [35,36]. However, prior studies examining sex differences in EEG coherence across development have had relatively small sample sizes (N < 100) and have largely comprised cross-sectional studies of individuals unaffected with AUD or other neuropsychiatric disorders. In the single study of typical development in 40 boys and 40 girls ages 8–12 [23], there was evidence of resting state EEG coherences systematically developing across this age range, especially in long-range electrode pairs; all effects varied by gender, brain region, and frequency band, underscoring the complexity of neural development and clear differences in these processes among males and females. Barry et al. [23] also found that females seemed to “lag behind” males in EEG coherence development. Interestingly, in this study we did not find significant phenotypic differences between males and females in EEG coherence despite the striking differences observed in the influence of AD PRS on EEG coherence. Given the phenotypic sex differences observed in previous work and the striking sex differences observed in the PRS-EEG coherence associations observed in the current study, future work is clearly needed in this area.
