It is provocative that several studies found that groups with genetic risk alleles who drank more than others in response to stressors actually drank less than others in the absence of stressors (e.g., Ducci et al., 2008; Kaufman et al., 2007; Madrid et al., 2001; Schmid et al., 2010). Such results suggest that certain genetic “risk” alleles may also buffer against risk for drinking when stress is not present, potentially contributing to the lack of evidence for genotype-drinking associations. Future studies that incorporate the full range of the environmental spectrum are needed to investigate whether the effects of alleles that have been implicated in alcohol-related GxE studies are directional or increase variability in response to the environment (Belsky & Pleuss, 2009).
