to influence racial/ethnic differences in a variety of health outcomes. New investigations need to consider the challenge of how to more accurately capture and reflect the role of the environment in using a multi-level and longitudinal framework, as suggested by Boardman et al.8, and to conceptualize the mechanisms through which these influences shape GxE interactions8,10–12. We proposed a number of community and societal variables (under both social control and triggering mechanisms) that are associated with alcohol use behaviors in U.S. racial/ethnic minority groups as potential environmental indicators to study alongside genetic effects. It will be an important next step, as has been recommended for phenotypic measures, that we test and identify a core of validated and standardized environmental measures for use in studies of G–E relationships.
