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Marcellus M. Merritt, Assistant Professor

Prof. Marcellus Merritt

Office: Garland Hall, Room 216
Phone: 414-229-6145
e-mail: merrittm@uwm.edu
Curriculum Vita: Vita (pdf 75k)

Degree:
Ph.D., Howard University, 1997

Research Interests:
My research program on stress and health disparities is comprised of two complementary lines of work: 1) investigation of underlying social psychological, physiological, and behavioral mechanisms for excess rates of hypertension and cardiovascular disease among racially/ethnically diverse populations, and; 2) the identification of health buffering behaviors that are linked with reduced risk for adverse health outcomes. My research is experimental and survey based and is focused on a variety of settings, including community health care centers, primary medical care settings, and traditional laboratory contexts. I am presently developing experimental models for attributions of discrimination-based stress and ruminative coping, validating measures of active and passive coping, and assessing psychophysiological responses to various types of stressors.

Recent Publications:
Merritt, M. M., Bennett, G. G., Williams, R. B., Edwards, C. L., Sollers, J. J. III (2006). Perceived racism and cardiovascular reactivity and recovery to personally-relevant stress. Health Psychology, 25(3),364-9. PDF Version

Bennett, G. G., Merritt, M. M., & Wolin, K. Y. (2004). Ethnicity, education, and the cortisol response to awakening: A preliminary investigation. Ethnicity and Health, 9(4), 337-47.

Merritt, M. M., Bennett, G. G. Jr., Williams, R. B., Sollers, J .J. III, & Thayer, J. F. (2004). Low educational attainment, John Henryism and cardiovascular reactivity and recovery to personally-relevant stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 66(1), 49-55. PDF Version

Thayer, J. F., Merritt, M. M., Sollers, J .J. III, Zonderman, A. B., Evans, M. K., Yie, S., & Abernethy, D. R. (2003). Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme insertion/deletion polymorphism DD genotype on high-frequency heart rate variability in African-Americans. American Journal of Cardiology, 92, 1487-1490.

Terracciano, A., Merritt, M. M., Zonderman, A. B., & Evans, M. K. (2003). Personality traits and sex differences in emotion recognition among African-Americans and Caucasians. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1000, 309-312.