My research focuses broadly on issues of risk-taking and adjustment, particularly among adolescents and young adults. I am especially interested in understanding how personality, efforts to manage or regulate one's emotional experience, and distinct motivations and goals individually and collectively drive risk-taking behaviors and promote or undermine adjustment. More recent work focuses on understanding the interplay of individual level factors such as these with close relationship dynamics as they influence sexual behavior and both individual and dyadic adjustment.
Cooper, M.L. & Larsen, R. (2014, Eds.). Handbook of personality processes and individual differences. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Cooper, M.L., Kuntsche, E., Levitt, A., Barber, L.L. & Wolf, S. (2016). 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. (2016). Toward a broader definition of what constitutes good scholarship (Editorial). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 110, 431-434.
Cooper, M.L., O’Hara, R., & Martins, J. (2016). Does drinking improve the quality of sexual behavior?: Sex-specific alcohol expectancies and subjective experience on drinking vs. sober sexual occasions. AIDS and Behavior, 20, 40-51. DOI 10.1007/s10461-015-1136-5.
O’Hara, R, & Cooper, M.L. (2015). Bidirectional associations between alcohol use and sexual behavior from adolescence to young adulthood. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 44, 857-871. DOI 10.1007/s10508-015-0510-8
Piasecki, T., Cooper, M.L., Sher, K., Shiffman, S., & Heath, A. (2014). Dispositional drinking motives: Associations with appraised alcohol effects and alcohol consumption in an ecological momentary assessment investigation. Psychological Assessment, 26, 363-369 doi: 10.1037/a0035153.
Barber, L.L., & Cooper, M.L. (2014). Sex on the rebound: Getting over the loss of a romantic relationship. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 43,251-265. DOI: 10.1007/s10508-013-0200-3.
Zhaoyang, R., & Cooper, M.L. (2013). Body satisfaction and couple’s daily sexual experience: A dyadic perspective. Archives of Sexual Behavior. DOI: 10.1007/s10508-013-0082-4
Cooper, M.L., Barber, L., Zhaoyang, R., & Talley, A.E. (2011). Motivational pursuits in the context of human sexual relationships. Journal of Personality, 79 (6), 1031-1066.
Crocker, J., & Cooper, M.L. (2011). Addressing scientific fraud. Science, 334, 1182.
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., 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., 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.
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., Flanagan, M., Talley, A., & Micheas, L. (2006). Individual differences in emotion experience and regulation and their relationships to risk-taking during adolescence. In D.K. Snyder, J.A. Simpson, & J.N. Hughes (Eds.), Emotion regulation in couples and families: Pathways to dysfunction and health. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Cooper, M.L., Pioli, M., Levitt, A., Talley, A., Micheas, L., & Collins, N. (2006). Attachment style, sex motives, and sexual behavior: Evidence for gender specific expressions of attachment dynamics (pp. 243-274). In M. Mikulincer & G.S. Goodman (Eds), Dynamics of romantic love: Attachment, caregiving, and sex. New York: Guilford.
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.
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.
Jackson, B., Cooper, M.L., Mintz, L., & Albino, A.W. (2003). Motivations to eat: Scale development and validation. Journal of Research in Personality, 37, 297-318.
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. (2002). Personality and close relationships: Embedding people in important social contexts. Journal of Personality, 70, 757-782.
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.
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.
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., 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.
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., & Orcutt, H.K. (1997). Drinking and sexual experience on first dates among adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106, 191-202.
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. (1994). Motivations for alcohol use among adolescents: Development and validation of a four-factor model. Psychological Assessment, 6, 117-128.