Jennifer Merrill

About

Jennifer Merrill is a Professor in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown University. Her research primarily investigates the etiology and consequences of alcohol use among young adults. She has recently completed an R01 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) to study drinking patterns, proximal antecedents, and consequences of high-intensity drinking and alcohol-induced blackouts among emerging adults. Additionally, she is the principal investigator of an R34 from NIAAA focused on developing a mobile-delivered personalized feedback intervention, and was the multiple principal investigator of an R21 examining how young adults who are not in 4-year colleges discuss alcohol on social media. Her expertise encompasses qualitative methods, ecological momentary assessment, alcohol biosensors, and intervention development. Emerging research interests include cannabis use and consequences, as well as the labeling of alcohol product containers. Her work contributes to understanding college drinking behaviors, social media influences, and intervention strategies aimed at reducing harmful alcohol and substance use among young adults.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Medicine
• Environmental health
• Psychiatry
• Clinical psychology
• Demography
• Social psychology
• Sociology
• Developmental psychology
• Psychotherapist

Selected publications

• Changes in Alcohol Use and Drinking Context due to the COVID‐19 Pandemic: A Multimethod Study of College Student Drinkers

  Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental Research · 2021 · 114 citations

  BACKGROUND: In spring 2020, U.S. universities closed campuses to limit the transmission of COVID-19, resulting in an abrupt change in residence, reductions in social interaction, and in many cases, movement away from a heavy drinking culture. The present mixed-methods study explores COVID-19-related changes in college student drinking. We characterize concomitant changes in social and location drinking contexts and describe reasons attributed to changes in drinking. METHODS: = 21.3; 62% female)…

  DOI

• Unplanned vs. planned drinking: Event-level influences of drinking motives and affect

  Addictive Behaviors · 2020 · 28 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  DOI

• Lower perceptions of day‐level peer drinking strengthen the impact of personal drinking on negative and positive consequences

  Alcohol Clinical and Experimental Research · 2025-04-19 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  BACKGROUND: Several studies have demonstrated that perceived peer drinking is associated with problem drinking behavior. However, research focusing on the dynamic impact of day-level perceived peer drinking behavior on a given individual's day-to-day deviations in drinking behavior has received less attention. This study sought to test whether day-level deviations in (and person-level averages of) perceived peer drinking quantity moderated the impact of an individual's own day-to-day deviations…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Drinking Dashboard for alcohol‐induced blackout: A randomized pilot trial

  Alcohol Clinical and Experimental Research · 2025-05-30 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Alcohol-induced "blackouts," or memory loss for events that occur while drinking, are prevalent and problematic among young adults. They also increase motivation to change. This study developed and pilot-tested a theoretically informed digital health intervention ("Drinking Dashboard") for alcohol-induced blackouts. METHODS: Data were collected using qualitative (Study 1) and quantitative (Study 2) methods. Participants in both studies were young adults (ages 18-30 years) across the…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Over a decade later and <i>Addiction</i> journal is still committed to publishing qualitative research

  Addiction · 2025-03-14 · 1 citations

  editorialOpen accessSenior author

  Addiction has increased the word limit for qualitative manuscripts from 4500 to 6000 words and has clarified its guidelines on qualitative submissions. This is to facilitate the publication of more high-quality qualitative research. Addiction has faced persistent challenges in publishing qualitative research. In 2013, members of the then editorial team who handled qualitative papers wrote an editorial that both affirmed the journal's commitment to publishing high-quality qualitative research and…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Daily personalized drinking feedback delivered via mobile phone

  NIH · $688k · 2022–2026

Frequent coauthors

• Kate B. Carey

  Brown University

  145 shared

• Mary Beth Miller

  University of Missouri

  72 shared

• Kristina M. Jackson

  Pacific Institute For Research and Evaluation

  64 shared

• Nancy P. Barnett

  John Brown University

  60 shared

• Angelo M. DiBello

  Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  52 shared

• Holly K. Boyle

  Yale University

  47 shared

• Gabriela López

  46 shared

• Brian Borsari

  31 shared

Similar researchers at Brown University

• Peter Montih-106
• Christopher Kahlerh-96