We hypothesized a lower degree of association between childhood trauma and alcohol use in Black vs. White girls as the most straightforward explanation for the counterintuitive elevated rate of trauma exposure but lower likelihood of alcohol use initiation in Black compared to White youth. Given the wide range of risk and protective factors that influence alcohol use - genetic, psychiatric, peer, family, cultural, and community level – it may simply be that this particular risk pathway to early alcohol use is equally strong in Black and White girls and the differences in prevalence and timing of alcohol use are attributable to variations in other pathways that were not examined in the current study. Peer influences [40] may be one such example, as Black youth are less likely than White youth to report alcohol consumption by close friends [41].
