The higher rates of alcohol use, early initiation of use, and problem drinking in EA vs. AA women observed in our sample is consistent with findings from a growing literature on differences in drinking behaviors between African Americans and European Americans (Dauber et al., 2009; Skidmore et al., 2012; Wagner et al., 2002; Wu et al., 2011). However, very few investigations have compared risk for problem drinking associated with early use across ethnic groups, and the only known study to compare African Americans and European Americans, which was limited to males, reported a weaker association between early age at first alcohol use and risk for problem drinking in AA vs. EA men (Horton, 2007). An even more pronounced difference was observed in our study: a statistically significant increase in risk for developing problem use was observed in European Americans but not African Americans who began drinking before age 15. However, the protective effect of late initiation of alcohol use was found in both groups.
