Andy Merolla

Andy’s research examines various communicative and emotional processes, such as social connection, conflict management, interpersonal forgiveness, and relational maintenance. Using approaches such as experience sampling, his current research analyzes how patterns of everyday social interaction are associated with feelings of connection and disconnection to others. Some of his recent research also explores the role of communication in constructing hope and the important role that hope plays in managing difficult life situations. Andy’s research can be found in journals such as Communication Monographs, Communication Research, Communication Theory, Human Communication Research, and the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. Andy's book, which he co-authored with Jeffrey A. Hall, titled The Social Biome: How Everyday Communication Connects and Shapes Us, will be published by Yale University Press in early 2025. At UCSB, Andy teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in communication theory, conflict management, interpersonal communication, and nonverbal communication. In 2021, he received the Distinguished Teaching Award from the UCSB Academic Senate.

Select Recent Publications

Merolla, A. J., Otmar, C. D., & Salehuddin, A. S. (in press). Past relational experiences and social interaction: Direct, moderated, and mediated associations between relational difficulty, communication, and perception in two samples. Communication Research.

Otmar, C. D., & Merolla, A. J. (in press). Early relational exclusion and present-day minority stress, social anxiety, and coping responses among sexual minority men. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

Merolla, A. J., Neubauer, A. B., & Otmar, C. D. (2024). Responsiveness, social connection, hope, and life satisfaction in everyday social interaction: An experience sampling study. Journal of Happiness Studies, 25(7).

Otmar, C. D., & Merolla, A. J. (2024). Social determinants of message exposure and health anxiety among young sexual minority men in the United States during the 2022 Mpox outbreak. Health Communication.

Murillo, R. M., Kam, J. A., & Merolla, A. J. (2024). Extending past theorizing on relational maintenance by exploring the lived experiences of separated Latina/o/x immigrant families. Human Communication Research, 50, 309-323. 

Afifi, T., Merolla, A. J., Afifi, W., Gonzales, C., Salehuddin, A., Salmon, J., & Wilson, V. (2024). Reciprocal relationship maintenance in marriage and its impact on communal orientation, relational load, and one’s ability to flourish. Human Communication Research, 50, 309-323. 

Hall, J. A., Dominguez, J., Merolla, A. J., & Otmar, C. D. (2023). Social bandwidth: When and why are social interactions energy intensive? Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 40, 2614-2636.

Hall, J. A., Pennington, N., & Merolla, A. J. (2023). What mediated social interactions satisfy the need to belong? Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 28, 1-12, zmac026.

Merolla, A. J., Hansia, A., Hall, J. A., & Zhang, S. (2022). Moments of connection for the disconnected: People with negative relations with others experience less, but benefit more from, positive everyday interaction. Communication Research, 49, 838-862.

Hansia, A., & Merolla, A. J. (2021). Intimate partner violence disclosure among Muslim-Americans: A survey study of disclosure likelihood to varying networks and the roles of relational context, religiosity, and marginalization. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 49, 609-631.

Hall, J. A., Mihailova, T., & Merolla, A. J. (2021). Typicality and volition as fundamental features of everyday relational communication. Personal Relationships, 28, 607-626.

Merolla, A. J., Otmar, C., & Ruvalcaba Hernandez, C. (2021). Day-to-day relational life during the COVID-19 pandemic: Linking mental health, daily relational experiences, and end-of-day outlook. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 38, 1961-1986.

Merolla, A. J., Bernhold, Q., & Peterson, C. (2021). Pathways to connection: An intensive longitudinal examination of state and dispositional hope, day quality, and everyday interpersonal interaction. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 38, 1961-1986.

Hall, J. A., & Merolla, A. J. (2020). Connecting everyday talk and time alone to global well-being. Human Communication Research, 46, 86-111.

Kam, J., Merolla, A. J., & High, A. C. (2020). Latinx immigrant youth’s indirect and direct family-undocumented status disclosures in relation to received supportive communication and depressive symptoms. Communication Research, 47, 599-622.