Chartier et al. 5 expand the focus on environmental influences in genetic studies of alcohol consumption by considering environmental exposures at three levels (social network, community, and society) and under two environmental mechanisms (social control and social trigger) that are thought to modify genetic predisposition to AUD. Overall, relatively few studies examine the interrelationships between measured genes based on molecular methods and environmental risk and protective factors for AUD in U.S. racial/ethnic minority groups. The authors characterize the identified studies by the racial/ethnic population, substance use phenotypes, genetic variants, and environmental features studied. Gaps in the literature are evident, including the challenges posed by small sample sizes and a focus on candidate genes. Most studies including non-European samples predominantly involve African American and Asian samples and younger subjects, with very few studying Latinos and American Indians or a range of adult ages to coincide with key developmental periods for alcohol use initiation and escalation/de-escalation in different racial/ethnic groups. Despite having broadly been shown to influence racial/ethnic differences in a variety of health outcomes, there is also a gap in studies
