In our earlier study of LTAA recruited from the San Francisco Bay Area, we did not find a group (LTAA vs. NSAC) main effect for subcortical volume. Our finding of such an effect (lower volumes in LTAA vs. NSAC for the accumbens, hippocampus, pallidum, putamen and thalamus) in the current study is likely due to a combination of both sample differences and imaging protocol improvements in Oahu vs. California. The current (Oahu) sample did not differ in age from the California sample, but started drinking on average 1.5 years earlier (14.4 ± 4.0 vs. 15.8 ± 4.6 yrs; F1,155 = 5.0, p = 0.026, es = 3.1). They also had much less education (13.6 ± 2.3 vs. 15.5 ± 2.1 yrs; F1,155 = 25.0, p < 0.0001, es = 13.9), much higher body mass indices (29.3 ± 5.4 vs. 25.9 ± 3.8; F1,155 = 17.5, p < 0.0001, es = 10.1), and a trend toward greater alcohol doses (199.9 ± 156 vs. 157.3 ± 122 drinks/mo; F1,155 = 3.2, p = 0.078, es = 2.0). The imaging studies on Oahu
