Biography

Dr. Gabriel “Joey” Merrin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science at Syracuse University. As a prevention scientist and applied developmental methodologist, Dr. Merrin has developed an innovative research program that advances our understanding of healthy development across adolescence and in the transition to young adulthood, supporting the successful assumption of adult roles and responsibilities.

Research Program

Dr. Merrin’s research seeks to clarify the complex and nested relationships across various social-ecological contexts (individual, family, peer, school, and community) and how they influence developmental pathways underlying the emergence of identity-based harassment and victimization, mental health issues, and problem behaviors (substance use, aggression, and delinquency) across critical life transitions.

Situated at the intersection of developmental science, prevention science, and longitudinal quantitative methods, his work includes three interconnected applied lines of research:

School-Based Prevention and Identity-Based Harassment This research line focuses on how school environments can either promote or hinder healthy adolescent development, investigating traditional bullying and identity-based harassment using innovative methods such as longitudinal multilevel models and stochastic actor-based models. Through randomized controlled trials, Dr. Merrin has assessed several large-scale school prevention programs including Second Step, WITS program, Boston vs. Bullies, and Sources of Strength.

Substance Use and Delinquency Across Developmental Transitions
This work advances understanding of substance use by examining patterns of polysubstance use (alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, illicit drugs) during key developmental transitions using innovative quantitative methods including latent class analysis, latent Markov models, and multidimensional growth mixture models. The research also examines youth gang involvement and antisocial behavior development using survival models and multilevel approaches.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Psychosocial Outcomes Through a comprehensive two-part systematic review synthesizing over 140 empirical studies spanning twenty years, this work demonstrates that different types of ACEs have distinct effects on mental health and peer-related outcomes, challenging traditional cumulative ACE models and emphasizing the need for person-centered, trauma-informed practices.

Methodological Innovations

Dr. Merrin led the development of CATAcode, an innovative R package that addresses critical gaps in measuring and analyzing identity categories in social science research. This tool provides principled methods for coding Check-All-That-Apply demographic items, offering significant contributions to transparency, generalizability, and reproducibility in research.

Recognition & Awards

• 2025-2027 National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Program Award

• Syracuse University 2024 Falk College Faculty of the Year Award for Excellence in Research

• Syracuse University 2024 Excellence in Graduate Education Faculty Award

• Texas Tech University 2021-2022 Alumni Association New Faculty Award

Laboratory Leadership

Dr. Merrin directs the Methodology, Adolescent Development, and Problem Behavior (MAP) Lab, which focuses on translating rigorous research into actionable prevention and intervention strategies. The lab has produced 13 student-led publications and provides extensive mentorship opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students.

As an applied scholar committed to community impact, Dr. Merrin works with schools and community organizations serving at-risk youth, which includes serving on the board of directors at Elmcrest Children’s Center. His work addresses four fundamental questions: (1) What long-term processes influence healthy adolescent development? (2) When and for whom do these processes differ? (3) How do these processes interact? (4) How can findings inform prevention and intervention efforts?

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