Jennifer Merrill is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences. She has primarily focused on investigating the etiology and consequences of alcohol misuse among young adults, with a particular interest in the subjective evaluation of alcohol-related consequences. Most recently, she received five-year R01 from NIAAA to study drinking patterns, proximal antecedents, and consequences of both high-intensity drinking and alcohol-induced blackouts among emerging adults. In 2014, she was awarded a K01 career development award from NIAAA to examine the impact that event-level alcohol-related consequences have on subsequent drinking decisions among heavy drinking college students. She also collaborates on a study involving the delivery of alcohol norms information via text message to college student drinkers. She has current interests in qualitative methods, ecological momentary assessment, alcohol biosensors, advanced data analysis, and intervention development.
| Merrill JE, Aston ER. "Alcohol demand assessed daily: Validity, variability, and the influence of drinking-related consequences." Drug and Alcohol Dependence, vol. 208, 2020, pp. 107838. |
| DiBello, Angelo M., Miller, Mary Beth, Merrill, Jennifer E., Carey, Kate B. "A Test of the Theory of Planned Behavior in the Prediction of Alcohol‐Induced Blackout Intention and Frequency." Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 2019. |
| Treloar Padovano, Hayley, Merrill, Jennifer E, Colby, Suzanne M, Kahler, Christopher W, Gwaltney, Chad J. "Affective and Situational Precipitants of Smoking Lapses among Adolescents." Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 2019. |
| Miller MB, DiBello AM, Meier E, Leavens ELS, Merrill JE, Carey KB, Leffingwell TR. "Alcohol-Induced Amnesia and Personalized Drinking Feedback: Blackouts Predict Intervention Response." Behavior Therapy, vol. 50, no. 1, 2019, pp. 25-35. |
| Miller, Mary Beth, DiBello, Angelo M., Merrill, Jennifer E., Carey, Kate B. "Development and initial validation of the alcohol-induced blackout measure." Addictive Behaviors, vol. 99, 2019, pp. 106079. |
| Merrill JE, Boyle HK, Jackson KM, Carey KB. "Event-Level Correlates of Drinking Events Characterized by Alcohol-Induced Blackouts." Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, vol. 43, no. 12, 2019, pp. 2599-2606. |
| Merrill JE, Miller MB, DiBello AM, Singh S, Carey KB. "How do college students subjectively evaluate "blackouts"?." Addictive Behaviors, vol. 89, 2019, pp. 65-69. |
| Merrill JE, Rosen RK, Walker SB, Carey KB. "A qualitative examination of contextual influences on negative alcohol consequence evaluations among young adult drinkers." Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, vol. 32, no. 1, 2018, pp. 29-39. |
| Miller MB, Merrill JE, Singh S, DiBello AM, Carey KB. "College student knowledge of blackouts and implications for alcohol intervention: A qualitative analysis." Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 2018. |
| Janssen T, Treloar Padovano H, Merrill JE, Jackson KM. "Developmental relations between alcohol expectancies and social norms in predicting alcohol onset." Developmental Psychology, vol. 54, no. 2, 2018, pp. 281-292. |
| Miller MB, Merrill JE, DiBello AM, Carey KB. "Distinctions in Alcohol-Induced Memory Impairment: A Mixed Methods Study of En Bloc Versus Fragmentary Blackouts." Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, vol. 42, no. 10, 2018, pp. 2000-2010. |
| DiBello AM, Benz MB, Miller MB, Merrill JE, Carey KB. "Examining residence status as a risk factor for health risk behaviors among college students." Journal of American College Health, vol. 66, no. 3, 2018, pp. 187-193. |
| Lowery, Ashley D., Merrill, Jennifer E., Carey, Kate B. "How acceptable are intoxicated behaviors? Discrepancy between personal versus perceived approval." Addictive Behaviors, vol. 76, 2018, pp. 258-264. |
| Gunn, Rachel L., Norris, Alyssa L., Sokolovsky, Alexander, Micalizzi, Lauren, Merrill, Jennifer E., Barnett, Nancy P. "Marijuana use is associated with alcohol use and consequences across the first 2 years of college." Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, vol. 32, no. 8, 2018, pp. 885-894. |
| Janssen T, Cox MJ, Merrill JE, Barnett NP, Sargent JD, Jackson KM. "Peer norms and susceptibility mediate the effect of movie alcohol exposure on alcohol initiation in adolescents." Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, vol. 32, no. 4, 2018, pp. 442-455. |
| Carey KB, Merrill JE, Walsh JL, Lust SA, Kalichman SC, Carey MP. "Predictors of short-term change after a brief alcohol intervention for mandated college drinkers." Addictive Behaviors, vol. 77, 2018, pp. 152-159. |
| Lopez-Vergara HI, Merrill JE, Carey KB. "Testing variability in response to a brief alcohol intervention: The role of self-regulation and the therapeutic relationship." Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, vol. 32, no. 2, 2018, pp. 205-212. |
| Merrill JE, Rosen RK, Boyle HK, Carey KB. "The influence of context in the subjective evaluation of "negative" alcohol-related consequences." Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, vol. 32, no. 3, 2018, pp. 350-357. |
| Carey, Kate B., Walsh, Jennifer L., Merrill, Jennifer E., Lust, Sarah A., Reid, Allecia E., Scott-Sheldon, Lori A. J., Kalichman, Seth C., Carey, Michael P. "Using e-mail boosters to maintain change after brief alcohol interventions for mandated college students: A randomized controlled trial." Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, vol. 86, no. 9, 2018, pp. 787-798. |
| Merrill JE, Kenney SR, Barnett NP. "A time-varying effect model of the dynamic association between alcohol use and consequences over the first two years of college." Addictive Behaviors, vol. 73, 2017, pp. 57-62. |
| Merrill JE, Boyle HK, Barnett NP, Carey KB. "Delivering normative feedback to heavy drinking college students via text messaging: A pilot feasibility study." Addictive Behaviors, 2017. |
| Fernandez AC, Yurasek AM, Merrill JE, Miller MB, Zamboanga BL, Carey KB, Borsari B. "Do brief motivational interventions reduce drinking game frequency in mandated students? An analysis of data from two randomized controlled trials." Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, vol. 31, no. 1, 2017, pp. 36-45. |
| Kenney, Shannon R., Merrill, Jennifer E., Barnett, Nancy P. "Effects of depressive symptoms and coping motives on naturalistic trends in negative and positive alcohol-related consequences." Addictive Behaviors, vol. 64, 2017, pp. 129-136. |
| Carey, Kate B., Balestrieri, Sara G., Miller, Mary Beth, Merrill, Jennifer E., DiBello, Angelo M., Benz, Madeline B. "Efficacy of the College Drinkers Check-Up for Student Drinkers Living Off Campus." Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, vol. 78, no. 4, 2017, pp. 571-579. |
| Carey KB, Balestrieri SG, Miller MB, Merrill JE, DiBello AM, Benz MB. "Efficacy of the College Drinkers Check-Up for Student Drinkers Living Off Campus." Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, vol. 78, no. 4, 2017, pp. 571-579. |
| Yurasek, Ali M., Merrill, Jennifer E., Metrik, Jane, Miller, Mary Beth, Fernandez, Anne C., Borsari, Brian. "Marijuana use in the context of alcohol interventions for mandated college students." Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, vol. 79, 2017, pp. 53-60. |
| Benz MB, DiBello AM, Balestrieri SG, Miller MB, Merrill JE, Lowery AD, Mastroleo NR, Carey KB. "Off-Campus Residence as a Risk Factor for Heavy Drinking Among College Students." Substance Use & Misuse, vol. 52, no. 9, 2017, pp. 1133-1138. |
| Lopez-Vergara, Hector I., Merrill, Jennifer E., Janssen, Tim, Jackson, Kristina M. "Social and Individual-Level Predictors of Alcohol Use Initiation and Escalation: Replicating and Extending Tests of Differential Effects." Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, vol. 78, no. 3, 2017, pp. 452-457. |
| Lopez-Vergara HI, Merrill JE, Janssen T, Jackson KM. "Social and Individual-Level Predictors of Alcohol Use Initiation and Escalation: Replicating and Extending Tests of Differential Effects." Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, vol. 78, no. 3, 2017, pp. 452-457. |
| Suffoletto B, Merrill JE, Chung T, Kristan J, Vanek M, Clark DB. "A text message program as a booster to in-person brief interventions for mandated college students to prevent weekend binge drinking." Journal of American College Health, vol. 64, no. 6, 2016, pp. 481-9. |
| Jackson KM, Merrill JE, Barnett NP, Colby SM, Abar CC, Rogers ML, Hayes KL. "Contextual influences on early drinking: Characteristics of drinking and nondrinking days." Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, vol. 30, no. 5, 2016, pp. 566-577. |
| Lopez-Vergara HI, Spillane NS, Merrill JE, Jackson KM. "Developmental Trends in Alcohol Use Initiation and Escalation From Early to Middle Adolescence: Prediction by Urgency and Trait Affect." Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, vol. 30, no. 5, 2016, pp. 578-587. |
| Merrill, Jennifer E., Miller, Mary Beth, Balestrieri, Sara G., Carey, Kate B. "Do my peers approve? Interest in injunctive norms feedback delivered online to college student drinkers." Addictive Behaviors, vol. 58, 2016, pp. 188-193. |
| Borsari, Brian, Merrill, Jennifer E., Yurasek, Ali, Miller, Mary Beth, Carey, Kate B. "Does a Brief Motivational Intervention Reduce Frequency of Pregaming in Mandated Students?." Substance Use & Misuse, vol. 51, no. 8, 2016, pp. 1056-1066. |
| Merrill JE, Carey KB. "Drinking Over the Lifespan: Focus on College Ages." Alcohol research : current reviews, vol. 38, no. 1, 2016, pp. 103-14. |
| Merrill JE, Lopez-Vergara HI, Barnett NP, Jackson KM. "Hypothetical evaluations of positive and negative alcohol consequences in adolescents across various levels of drinking experience." Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, vol. 30, no. 8, 2016, pp. 811-818. |
| Merrill, Jennifer E., Treloar, Hayley, Fernandez, Anne C., Monnig, Mollie A., Jackson, Kristina M., Barnett, Nancy P. "Latent Growth Classes of Alcohol-Related Blackouts Over the First 2 Years of College." Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, vol. 30, no. 8, 2016, pp. 827-837. |
| Aston, Elizabeth R., Merrill, Jennifer E., McCarthy, Denis M., Metrik, Jane. "Risk Factors for Driving After and During Marijuana Use." Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, vol. 77, no. 2, 2016, pp. 309-316. |
| Miller, Mary Beth, Merrill, Jennifer E., Yurasek, Ali M., Mastroleo, Nadine R., Borsari, Brian. "Summer Versus School-Year Alcohol Use Among Mandated College Students." Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, vol. 77, no. 1, 2016, pp. 51-57. |
| Merrill JE, Kenney SR, Carey KB. "The Effect of Descriptive Norms on Pregaming Frequency: Tests of Five Moderators." Substance Use & Misuse, vol. 51, no. 8, 2016, pp. 1002-1012. |
| Merrill, Jennifer E., Martin, Scott, Abar, Caitlin C., Jackson, Kristina M. "Trajectories and correlates of reasons for abstaining or limiting drinking during adolescence." Addictive Behaviors, vol. 52, 2016, pp. 1-7. |
| Merrill, Jennifer E., Wardell, Jeffrey D., Read, Jennifer P. "Is Readiness to Change Drinking Related to Reductions in Alcohol Use and Consequences? A Week-to-Week Analysis." Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, vol. 76, no. 5, 2015, pp. 790-798. |
| Barnett, Nancy P., Merrill, Jennifer E., Kahler, Christopher W., Colby, Suzanne M. "Negative evaluations of negative alcohol consequences lead to subsequent reductions in alcohol use." Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, vol. 29, no. 4, 2015, pp. 992-1002. |
| Reid AE, Carey KB, Merrill JE, Carey MP. "Social network influences on initiation and maintenance of reduced drinking among college students." Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, vol. 83, no. 1, 2015, pp. 36-44. |
| Thomas, Suzanne E., Merrill, Jennifer E., von Hofe, Johanna, Magid, Viktoriya. "Coping Motives for Drinking Affect Stress Reactivity but Not Alcohol Consumption in a Clinical Laboratory Setting." Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, vol. 75, no. 1, 2014, pp. 115-123. |
| Merrill, Jennifer E., Carey, Kate B., Lust, Sarah A., Kalichman, Seth C., Carey, Michael P. "Do students mandated to intervention for campus alcohol-related violations drink more than nonmandated students?." Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, vol. 28, no. 4, 2014, pp. 1265-1270. |
| Merrill, Jennifer E., Wardell, Jeffrey D., Read, Jennifer P. "Drinking Motives in the Prospective Prediction of Unique Alcohol-Related Consequences in College Students." Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, vol. 75, no. 1, 2014, pp. 93-102. |
| Merrill, Jennifer E., Carey, Kate B., Reid, Allecia E., Carey, Michael P. "Drinking reductions following alcohol-related sanctions are associated with social norms among college students." Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, vol. 28, no. 2, 2014, pp. 553-8. |
| Merrill JE, Reid AE, Carey MP, Carey KB. "Gender and depression moderate response to brief motivational intervention for alcohol misuse among college students." Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, vol. 82, no. 6, 2014, pp. 984-92. |
| Wray TB, Merrill JE, Monti PM. "Using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) to Assess Situation-Level Predictors of Alcohol Use and Alcohol-Related Consequences." Alcohol research : current reviews, vol. 36, no. 1, 2014, pp. 19-27. |
| Jackson, Kristina M, Roberts, Megan E, Colby, Suzanne M, Barnett, Nancy P, Abar, Caitlin C, Merrill, Jennifer E. "Willingness to Drink as a Function of Peer Offers and Peer Norms in Early Adolescence." Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, vol. 75, no. 3, 2014, pp. 404-414. |
| Jackson KM, Roberts ME, Colby SM, Barnett NP, Abar CC, Merrill JE. "Willingness to drink as a function of peer offers and peer norms in early adolescence." Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, vol. 75, no. 3, 2014, pp. 404-14. |
| Merrill JE, Thomas SE. "Interactions between adaptive coping and drinking to cope in predicting naturalistic drinking and drinking following a lab-based psychosocial stressor." Addictive Behaviors, vol. 38, no. 3, 2013, pp. 1672-8. |
| Merrill, Jennifer E., Vermont, Leah N., Bachrach, Rachel L., Read, Jennifer P. "Is the Pregame to Blame? Event-Level Associations Between Pregaming and Alcohol-Related Consequences." Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, vol. 74, no. 5, 2013, pp. 757-764. |
| Merrill JE, Read JP, Colder CR. "Normative perceptions and past-year consequences as predictors of subjective evaluations and weekly drinking behavior." Addictive Behaviors, vol. 38, no. 11, 2013, pp. 2625-34. |
| Read, Jennifer P., Merrill, Jennifer E., Griffin, Melissa J., Bachrach, Rachel L., Khan, Saba N. "Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Alcohol Problems: Self-Medication or Trait Vulnerability?." The American Journal on Addictions, vol. 23, no. 2, 2013, pp. 108-116. |
| Merrill JE, Read JP, Barnett NP. "The way one thinks affects the way one drinks: subjective evaluations of alcohol consequences predict subsequent change in drinking behavior." Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, vol. 27, no. 1, 2013, pp. 42-51. |
| Bachrach RL, Merrill JE, Bytschkow KM, Read JP. "Development and initial validation of a measure of motives for pregaming in college students." Addictive Behaviors, vol. 37, no. 9, 2012, pp. 1038-45. |
| Simons, Jeffrey S., Dvorak, Robert D., Merrill, Jennifer E., Read, Jennifer P. "Dimensions and severity of marijuana consequences: Development and validation of the Marijuana Consequences Questionnaire (MACQ)." Addictive Behaviors, vol. 37, no. 5, 2012, pp. 613-621. |
| Wardell JD, Read JP, Colder CR, Merrill JE. "Positive alcohol expectancies mediate the influence of the behavioral activation system on alcohol use: a prospective path analysis." Addictive Behaviors, vol. 37, no. 4, 2012, pp. 435-43. |
| Read JP, Colder CR, Merrill JE, Ouimette P, White J, Swartout A. "Trauma and posttraumatic stress symptoms predict alcohol and other drug consequence trajectories in the first year of college." Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, vol. 80, no. 3, 2012, pp. 426-39. |
| Wardell, Jeffrey D., Read, Jennifer P., Curtin, John J., Merrill, Jennifer E. "Mood and Implicit Alcohol Expectancy Processes: Predicting Alcohol Consumption in the Laboratory." Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, vol. 36, no. 1, 2011, pp. 119-129. |
| Read, Jennifer P., Merrill, Jennifer E., Bytschkow, Katrina. "Before the Party Starts: Risk Factors and Reasons for “Pregaming” in College Students." Journal of American College Health, vol. 58, no. 5, 2010, pp. 461-472. |
| Merrill JE, Read JP. "Motivational pathways to unique types of alcohol consequences." Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, vol. 24, no. 4, 2010, pp. 705-11. |
| Merrill, Jennifer E., Wardell, Jeffrey D., Read, Jennifer P. "Is expectancy reality? Associations between tension reduction beliefs and mood following alcohol consumption." Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, vol. 17, no. 6, 2009, pp. 434-444. |
| Read, Jennifer P., Beattie, Melissa, Chamberlain, Rebecca, Merrill, Jennifer E. "Beyond the “Binge” threshold: Heavy drinking patterns and their association with alcohol involvement indices in college students." Addictive Behaviors, vol. 33, no. 2, 2008, pp. 225-234. |
| Read, Jennifer P., Merrill, Jennifer E., Kahler, Christopher W., Strong, David R. "Predicting functional outcomes among college drinkers: reliability and predictive validity of the Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire." Addictive Behaviors, vol. 32, no. 11, 2007, pp. 2597-2610. |
K01 AA022938 Merrill (PI) 10/14 – 9/20
Real-Time Evaluations of Alcohol Consequences and Subsequent Drinking
This is a Mentored Research Scientist Development Award with the research aim of identifying the impact that event-level alcohol-related consequences have on subsequent drinking decisions among heavy drinking college students. Proposed training goals include building expertise in the following: (1) qualitative research methods to inform measures and methods development; (2) methodology of ecological momentary assessment (EMA); (3) analysis of EMA data; and (4) intervention development.
Role: Principal Investigator
R01 AA027495 Merrill (PI) 06/2019 – 05/2024
NIAAA
High-Intensity Drinking and Alcohol-Induced Blackouts among Young Adult Drinkers: An Event-level Analysis
Role: Principal Investigator
Salomon Award, Office of VP for Research, Brown University 02/2019-02/2020
$15,000
Mobile-delivered Feedback on Drinking Events: Pilot Testing an Intervention for Heavy Drinking College Students
Role: Principal Investigator
R21AA026740 Barnett (PI) 05/2019-04/2021
NIAAA
Bystander Intervention for Alcohol-Related Risk Behavior: Instrument Development & Validation
Role: Co-Investigator
R21 AA024771 Carey (PI) 01/2017 – 12/2018
Correcting Exaggerated Drinking Norms with a Mobile Message Delivery System
This project develops content for a text-based corrective norms intervention and pilot tests implementation in a small RCT.
Role: Co-Investigator
| Year | Degree | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | PhD | State University of New York at Buffalo |
2016 Collaborative Perspectives on Addiction (CPA) Conference Outstanding Research Presentation Award, APA Division 50
2016 Early Career Investigator Award, Mechanisms of Behavior Change, Research Society on Alcoholism
2016 NIAAA/NIDA and Divisions 28/50 Early Career Poster and Travel Award, American Psychological Association
2016 Early Career Achievement Award, Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Addictive Behaviors Special Interest Group
2017 Scholar, Alcohol Medical Scholars Program (Director: Marc Schuckit, M.D.)
2017 Recent Alumnus Award, SUNY Brockport
2018 Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contribution Award, APA Division 50 (Society of Addiction Psychology)
2018 APA Early Career Achievement Award
2018 mHealth Training Institute (mHTI) Scholarship, NIH and UCLA
| Name | Title |
|---|---|
| Aston, Elizabeth | Assistant Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences (Research) |
| Barnett, Nancy | Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior |
| Carey, Kate | Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences |
| Colby, Suzanne | Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences |
| Jackson, Kristina | Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences (Research) |
| Kahler, Christopher | Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Chair of Behavioral and Social Sciences |
| Metrik, Jane | Associate Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences (Research), Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior (Research) |
| Treloar Padovano, Hayley | Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Assistant Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences |
| Clinical Psychologist | 2014-2017 | #PS01479 |
