Our examination of the timing of alcohol use initiation and subsequent development of problem drinking in AA and EA women using genetically-informative data is a unique contribution to the literature on alcohol-related problems in women. Our study is among the first to test for potential differences between African Americans and European Americans in the degree of association between early age at first drink and problem alcohol use and the first known study to estimate the relative contributions of genes and environment to either phenotype in African Americans. Problem use, which we defined as one or more AUD symptoms (other than tolerance), has received far less attention than alcohol dependence in genetically-informative research, but the high prevalence of problem drinking in the population (Johnston et al., 2011) and the lowered quality of life associated with even one AUD symptom suggest the importance of enhancing our understanding of this alcohol-related outcome.
