Abstract: Social anxiety disorder is a risk factor for developing alcohol use disorders. This link is in part due to the expectation that alcohol reduces feelings of social anxiety. Despite wide variations in cultural norms for drinking, little work has examined the social anxiety-alcohol association across cultural groups. Our present work with epidemiological data suggests that there is a stronger link between social anxiety and drinking in Asian Americans compared with non-Hispanic whites. Future directions for research on cultural differences in alcohol expectancies are also discussed.