Health disparities related to drinking in native communities are of concern. Although individuals living in native communities have high rates of problem drinking, there is also variability in their drinking levels. The authors conducted a test of a model of First Nation drinking risk that incorporates personality and psychosocial learning to examine its cross-cultural applicability. That model identifies a risk process thought to explain aspects of individual differences in both native problem drinking and non-native problem drinking. One implication of the theory is that positive alcohol expectancies mediate the influence of negative urgency (the tendency to act rashly when distressed) on problem drinking similarly for both cultures.