Ms. Merrill received a B.A. from Bowdoin College in 1984 and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Brown University in 1988 and 1991, respectively. She was later a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research, also at Brown University. Ms. Merrill has been at Clark since 1992. She is also affiliated with the Women's and Gender Studies Program.

Ms. Merrill's primary interests and training in sociology lie within the fields of family, aging, medical sociology, and demography. She is currently studying same sex marriage and its implications for relationships between parents and adult children.

Ms. Merrill's articles appear in "Social Forces," "Research on Aging," "Journal of Social and Personal Relationships," "Journal of Aging" and "Health and Ethnic Groups." Her books include "When Your Children Marry: How Marriage Changes Relationships with Adult Children," "Mothers-in-law and Daughters-in-law: Understanding the Relationsip and What Makes them Friends or Foe," and 2016's "'When Your Gay or Lesbian Child Marries."

Marriage, Gay Marriage, Parenting, Family & Parenting, Sociology, Professors, LGBTQ Ally