This study partially addresses the paradox of higher trauma exposure but less alcohol involvement in AAs as findings suggest trauma is not as strongly related to alcohol outcomes in AAs compared to EAs. Differential reporting of trauma across races could partially account for discrepancies as, although AAs report higher rates of PA, racial differences in the reporting of trauma exposure have been identified. That is, AA women are more likely to report childhood PA on behavioral items without also explicitly endorsing the abuse on the trauma interview, which may point to differences in acculturation of physical punishment between EA and AA women (Werner et al., 2016a). Furthermore, racial differences in risk and protective factors (which were not assessed here) may mediate the relationship between trauma and alcohol outcomes, but have remained relatively unexplored. Additionally, we need to increase our understanding of what drives early and problem drinking behaviors in AAs as, although these behaviors are less common, they are not absent. Given the research suggesting that AAs who do use alcohol experience more severe AUD symptoms (Mulia et al., 2009)
