Social Psychology Network

Maintained by Scott Plous, Wesleyan University

M. Lynne Cooper

M. Lynne Cooper

My research focuses broadly on issues of risk-taking and adjustment, especially among adolescents and young adults. I am currently working on two inter-related projects, one examining the personality and motivational antecedents of risk-taking and adjustment from adolescence into young adulthood in a large, representative, biracial community sample followed over 15 years; and a second examining intrapersonal (including personality and motives) and dyadic influences on risk-taking and adjustment among couples using a combination of daily diary and standard survey methods.

Primary Interests:

  • Close Relationships
  • Emotion, Mood, Affect
  • Health Psychology
  • Motivation, Goal Setting
  • Personality, Individual Differences
  • Sexuality, Sexual Orientation

Journal Articles:

  • Agocha, V. B., & Cooper, M. L. (1999). Risk perceptions and safer-sex intentions: Does a partner's physical attractiveness undermine the use of risk-relevant information? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25, 746-759.
  • Collins, N. L., Cooper, M. L., Albino, A. W., & Allard, L. (2002). Psychosocial vulnerability from adolescence to adulthood: A prospective study of attachment style differences in relationship functioning and partner choice. Journal of Personality, 70, 965-1008.
  • Cooper, M.L. (2010). Toward a person X situation model of sexual risk-taking behaviors: Illuminating the conditional effects of traits across sexual situations and relationship contexts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 319-341.
  • Cooper, M.L. (2009). Problems, pitfalls, and promise in the peer review process. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4, 84 – 90.
  • Cooper, M. L. (2006). Does drinking promote risky sexual behavior? A complex answer to a simple question. Current Directions, 15, 19-23.
  • Cooper, M. L., Agocha, V. B., & Powers, A. M. (1999). Motivations for condom use: Do pregnancy prevention goals undermine disease prevention among heterosexual adults? Health Psychology, 18, 464-474.
  • Cooper, M. L., Agocha, V. B., & Sheldon, M. S. (2000). A motivational perspective on risky behaviors: The role of personality and affect regulatory processes. Journal of Personality, 68, 1059-1088.
  • Cooper, M.L., Barber, L., Zhaoyang, R., & Talley, A.E. (in press). Motivational pursuits in the context of human sexual relationships. Journal of Personality.
  • Cooper, M. L., Frone, M. R., Russell, M., & Mudar, P. (1995). Drinking to regulate positive and negative emotions: A motivational model of alcohol use. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 990-1005.
  • Cooper, M. L., Krull, J. L, Agocha, V. B., Flanagan, M., Grabe, S. A, Orcutt, H. K., Jackson, M., & Dermen, K. H. (2008). Motivational pathways to alcohol use and abuse among Black and White adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 117, 485-501.
  • Cooper, M. L., & Orcutt, H. K. (1997). Drinking and sexual experience on first dates among adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106, 191-202.
  • Cooper, M. L., Shapiro, C. M., & Powers, A. M. (1998). Motivations for sex and risky sexual behavior among adolescents and young adults: A functional perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1528-1558. Lead article.
  • Cooper, M. L., Shaver, P. R., & Collins, N. L. (1998). Attachment styles, emotion regulation, and adjustment in adolescence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1380-1397.
  • Cooper, M. L., Wood, P. K., Orcutt, H. K., & Albino, A. W. (2003). Personality and the predisposition to engage in risky or problem behaviors during adolescence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 390-410.
  • Huselid, R. F., & Cooper, M. L. (1994). Gender roles as mediators of sex differences in expressions of pathology. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 595-603. Lead Article.
  • Levitt, A., & Cooper, M.L. (2010). Daily alcohol use and romantic relationship functioning: Evidence of bidirectional, gender- and context-specific effects. Revision invited, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin., 1706 – 1722.
  • Sheldon, M. S., Cooper, M. L., Geary, D. C., Hoard, M., & DeSoto, K. (2006). Fertility cycle patterns and fluctuations in motives for sex. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin., 32, 1659-1673.

Other Publications:

  • Cooper, M. L. (Ed.). (2002). Personality and close relationships [Special issue]. Journal of Personality, 70(6).
  • Cooper, M.L., Kuntsche, E., Levitt, A., Barber, L.L. & Wolf, S. (in press). A motivational perspective on substance use: Review of theory and research. In K.J. Sher (Ed), Oxford handbook of substance use disorders, New York, NY: Oxford University Press
  • Cooper, M. L., Talley, A., Sheldon, M. S., Levitt, A., & Barber, L. (2008). A dyadic perspective on approach and avoidance motives for sex (pp. 615-631). In A. J. Elliot, Handbook of Approach and Avoidance Motivation. New York: Psychology Press.

M. Lynne Cooper
Department of Psychological Sciences
105 McAlester Hall
University of Missouri, Columbia
Columbia, Missouri 65211
United States of America

  • Phone: (573) 882-2365
  • Fax: (573) 882-7710

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