About

Andy Merolla is a professor in the Department of Communication at UC Santa Barbara. His research examines the link between interpersonal communication and well-being, focusing on the interrelationships between communication, emotion, and cognition in everyday interaction. His work explores various communicative and emotional processes such as social connection, conflict management, interpersonal forgiveness, and relational maintenance. Using approaches like experience sampling, he analyzes how patterns of social interaction are associated with feelings of connection and disconnection to others. Recent research also investigates the role of communication in constructing hope and how hope influences the management of difficult life situations. At UCSB, Andy teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in conflict management, communication theory, interpersonal communication, and nonverbal communication. He received the Distinguished Teaching Award from the UCSB Academic Senate in 2021. His scholarly contributions include publications in prominent journals such as Communication Monographs, Communication Research, Communication Theory, Human Communication Research, and the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. He is also a co-author of the book 'The Social Biome: How Everyday Communication Connects and Shapes Us,' published by Yale University Press in 2025.

Research topics

• Social psychology
• Psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Computer Science
• Psychiatry
• Medicine
• Clinical psychology

Selected publications

• The Social Biome

  Yale University Press eBooks · 2025-01-16

  book1st authorCorresponding

  A deep dive into the importance of daily communication and how we can harness its power to create a better life We spend much of our waking lives communicating with others. How does each moment of interaction shape not only our relationships but also our worldviews? And how can we create moments of connection that improve our health and well-being, particularly in a world in which people are feeling increasingly isolated? Drawing from their extensive research, Andy J. Merolla and Jeffrey A. Hall establish a new way to think about our relational life: as existing within “social biomes”—complex ecosystems of moments of interaction with others. Each interaction we have, no matter how unimportant or mundane it might seem, is a building block of our identities and beliefs. Consequently, the choices we make about how we interact and who we interact with—and whether we interact at all—matter more than we might know. Merolla and Hall offer a sympathetic, practical guide to our vital yet complicated social lives and propose realistic ways to embrace and enhance connection and hope.

  PublisherDOI

• The Social Biome

  Yale University Press eBooks · 2025-02-11

  book1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Social Determinants of Message Exposure and Health Anxiety Among Young Sexual Minority Men in the United States During the 2022 Mpox Outbreak

  Health Communication · 2024-09-03 · 7 citations

  articleSenior author

  = 254) reported that internet sources and social media were their primary information sources for Mpox messages during the outbreak. Educational attainment, racial minority status, and LGBTQ+ community connectedness were significantly associated with message exposure. Young sexual minority men who faced greater interpersonal discrimination in their daily lives also reported higher rates of Mpox-related health anxiety. Longitudinal analysis indicated that (at the within-person level) Mpox anxiety was significantly associated with greater Mpox message exposure in the month following the outbreak, but that relationship waned in the subsequent month. The theoretical implications highlight the relevance of minority stress variables in the structural influence model of communication framework and suggest the importance of community connectedness as a distinct form of social capital shaping message exposure and health anxiety during the Mpox outbreak in the United States.

  PublisherDOI

• Responsiveness, Social Connection, Hope, and Life Satisfaction in Everyday Social Interaction: An Experience Sampling Study

  Journal of Happiness Studies · 2024-01-22 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract What are the specific everyday communication experiences—from across people’s social networks—that contribute to well-being? In the present work, we focus on the effects of perceived partner responsiveness in social interactions on various well-being outcomes. We hypothesized that everyday moments of responsiveness indirectly support two key estimates of well-being (hope and life satisfaction) through feelings of social connection. Data were obtained in an experience sampling study collected across ten days ( N = 120). Results of dynamic structural equation modeling (DSEM) showed that responsive interaction predicted increases in hope (but not life satisfaction) through social connection. Results also identified reciprocal within-person links between responsive interaction and social connection throughout the day. These findings underscore the importance of responsive everyday communication for fostering social connection across different types of relationships and for supporting people’s capacity for a hopeful life. We discuss the implications of these results for continued research of responsiveness, hope theory, and well-being from a social interaction lens. On a practical level, the mediation pathway involving hope suggests how small changes in our patterns of everyday social interaction can be consequential to the quality of our lives.

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• Individuals’ perceptions of reciprocal relationship maintenance in their marriage and its impact on communal orientation, relational load, and ability to flourish

  Human Communication Research · 2024-01-09 · 9 citations

  article

  Abstract This study investigates individuals’ perceptions of reciprocal relationship maintenance in their marriage over time during the Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19). Using a Qualtrics Panel, married individuals (N = 3,601) completed online surveys at four time points during the initial 3 months of the pandemic. Both the between- and within-person effects were consistent with the theory of resilience and relational load. On average, married individuals who reported giving greater relationship maintenance to their partners also reported receiving greater relationship maintenance from them, as well as reported greater communal orientation and flourishing and lower relational load. Giving relationship maintenance to one’s partner was a stronger predictor of receiving maintenance than the reverse, even though both influenced each other. Giving relationship maintenance to one’s partner was also a stronger and more consistent predictor of communal orientation, relational load, and flourishing than maintenance received. Finally, relational load in one’s marriage was the strongest predictor of flourishing.

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• Relational maintenance among separated Latina/o/x/e immigrant families: exploring the lived experiences of parents and children

  Human Communication Research · 2023-11-30 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author

  Abstract Prior relational maintenance research primarily (a) considers only one family member’s perspective, (b) explores introspective communication, and (c) examines romantic relationships among highly resourced white samples in the United States. This study considered low-income, Latina/o/x/e immigrant families’ maintenance before, during, and after migration-related separation, using standpoint theory, social communication theory, and the long-distance relational maintenance model. We conducted semi-structured interviews with Latina/o/x/e parents and children who lived in separate countries (N = 20 dyads). Findings cast light on temporal (e.g., fathers often provided little to no notice to children of the upcoming separation, complicating the families’ ability to prospectively co-construct relational continuity) and cultural factors (e.g., endorsing traditional gender norms, relying on mothers to explain the separation to children after it had begun) in families’ maintenance processes. This study offers new insight into how families communicatively construct “ongoingness” in their bonds despite emotional, technological, and legal challenges posed by migration-related separation.

  PublisherDOI

• Social Bandwidth: When and Why Are Social Interactions Energy Intensive?

  Journal of Social and Personal Relationships · 2023-02-01 · 9 citations

  article

  This manuscript identifies the characteristics of a social interaction or social event that make it energy intensive and explores the experience of recovering from an energy-intensive interaction. Study One ( N = 309) used an inductive approach to identify social interactions or events that were energy intensive. Study Two ( N = 120) used an experience sampling method to explore overall energy expense in everyday conversations ( N = 3,092). Communication episode, more choice to interact, less familiarity of partners, and greater feelings of connection and disconnection predicted energy intensiveness. Results suggest that people seek solitude after an energy-intensive interaction, and the disconnection felt in the interaction influences desire for company when alone. Overall, social exclusion and communication content are important components in explaining the multi-faceted nature of energy-intensive interactions.

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• Past Relational Experiences and Social Interaction: Direct, Moderated, and Mediated Associations Between Relational Difficulty, Communication, and Perception in Two Samples

  Communication Research · 2023-04-06 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This study examined the relationship between perceptions of relational history, namely, past relational challenges, and everyday social interaction experiences. In efforts to build upon and extend previous research, hypotheses directed toward replication and extension were tested in two experience sampling datasets ( N = 120 and 220). Consistent support was found for the idea that people with a history of relational difficulties tend to perceive less interaction partner responsiveness, lower well-being, and higher stress during social interactions. Support was also found in a sample of adults for a multilevel mediation model whereby negative relations with others negatively predicted partner responsiveness through stress and partner liking. Results are interpreted based on affection-, appraisal-, and resource-based theories and potential differences in relational experiences at unique life stages and phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  PublisherDOI

• Early relational exclusion and present-day minority stress, social anxiety, and coping responses among sexual minority men

  Journal of Social and Personal Relationships · 2023-10-17 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Drawing from minority stress theory, research on ostracism, and the communication of exclusion, this study had two goals. First, we aimed to test how perceptions of early relational exclusion relate to current-day minority stress, coping strategies, and social anxiety among young sexual minority men. Second, we aimed to test the reciprocal within-person associations between present-day minority stress, coping strategies, and social anxiety over a three-month period. Based on a three-wave longitudinal dataset of sexual minority men ( N = 254), we tested the hypotheses using a random-intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM). RI-CLPMs partition variance at the between-person (i.e., mean level differences across participants) and within-person (i.e., intra-individual change from typical levels over time) levels, while also allowing for associations between current and past experiences through the inclusion of a person-level (time-invariant) predictor. Findings indicated that perception of early relational exclusion (at the between-person level) is positively associated with present-day reports of minority stress, maladaptive coping, and social anxiety. Further, in addition to between-person associations among minority stress, maladaptive coping, and social anxiety, model results indicated a within-person longitudinal association between maladaptive coping and social anxiety. As discussed, this study advances theory on minority stress from a relational communication lens, and has implications for practitioners working with sexual minority youth.

  PublisherDOI

• Which mediated social interactions satisfy the need to belong?

  Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication · 2022 · 31 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Psychology
  • Social psychology

  Abstract This investigation uses the two-process model of needs to explore differences between face-to-face communication and interpersonal media in terms of belongingness need satisfaction. Using experience sampling methods, Study 1 (N = 117) explored change in feelings of loneliness and connection from interpersonal media use within a day. Study 2 (N = 1,747) examined the association between loneliness and life satisfaction as mediated by patterns of interpersonal media use in the year following the COVID-19 outbreak. Study 3 (N = 303) experimentally manipulated social belonging to examine changes in interpersonal media use and resulting feelings of connection and disconnection. Overall, when individuals were more connected, their behaviors were more consistent with the two-process model, compared to when they felt disconnected. Additionally, although some interpersonal media use was better than no social contact at all, interpersonal media are not equally capable of satisfying belongingness needs.

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Frequent coauthors

• Shuangyue Zhang

  Capital Medical University

  13 shared

• Shaojing Sun

  Fudan University

  8 shared

• Jeffrey A. Hall

  McGill University

  7 shared

• Mihye Seo

  6 shared

• Christopher D. Otmar

  University of California, San Francisco

  6 shared

• Jennifer A. Kam

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  5 shared

• Quinten S. Bernhold

  University of Tennessee at Knoxville

  3 shared

• Laura Stafford

  Bowling Green State University

  3 shared

Awards & honors

• Distinguished Teaching Award from the UCSB Academic Senate (…