Despite the lack of participation thus far, it has been indicated that persons of African ancestry, for example, are willing to participate in research activities if engaged by investigators (Jones et al., 2016, Wendler et al., 2006); consequently, interventions aimed at addressing the underlying issues faced in recruiting and retaining participants of color during genetic studies could potentially improve participation outcomes among African-Americans and underrepresented populations, in general (Konkel, 2015). Recent consortia efforts of gene identification with pooled resources and participant data have included an increasing number of ethnic populations (of African ancestry in particular), providing more opportunities to understand genetic influences on psychiatric disorders in ethnic groups. Efforts to carry these GWAS findings forward to examine how genetic factors interact with environmental factors, including those that are particularly relevant for specific populations (e.g., racial discrimination, cultural socialization), to influence psychiatric outcomes are warranted. This will be important both to aid in our understanding of etiology across all populations, and to inform prevention and/or intervention of psychiatric disorders and efforts to reduce racial disparities in health outcomes.
