The extent to which genetic and environmental factors contribute to these correlations between religious service attendance and alcohol involvement can have varying implications for etiology, prevention, and, importantly, for identifying potential pathways that result in ethnic disparities. For instance, in Whites, the association between C-RA and ever drinking as well as timing of first alcohol use was primarily attributable to shared environmental factors. This finding is consistent with other studies23,27 and suggests that potential religiosity-related interventions that delay the onset of alcohol use should be targeted at the family-level. In contrast, the association between A-RA and AUD was attributable to additive genetic influences (as in another study28) indicating that predispositions that result in prosocial behaviors, such as recent religious service attendance may also influence reduced progression to AUD, and could also include genetic liability to personality traits, such as conservatism.36 The prominent role of shared environment in the associations between C-RA and ever drinking as well as timing of first alcohol use should also be viewed in light of findings by Maes et al.29 that identified cultural transmission and genotype-environment
