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Faculty John L. Cooley

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John L. Cooley, Ph.D., ABPP 

Irving and Rose Fien Endowed Assistant Professor, School Psychology

John L. Cooley

Email

john.cooley@coe.ufl.edu

Address

PO Box 117050
Gainesville, FL 32611

Website

Positive Youth Development Lab

About

Dr. Cooley is a board-certified clinical child and adolescent psychologist and an Assistant Professor in the School Psychology Program at the University of Florida. His research is guided by two overarching questions: (1) “How can we meet the mental health needs of youth negatively impacted by bullying and peer victimization?” and (2) “How can we expand families’ access to evidence-based mental health services and resources?” To address these questions, his research lab is currently developing and evaluating novel approaches to mental health screening, prevention, and intervention online and within schools and other community-based settings. The central goal of Dr. Cooley’s work is to learn how we can decrease risk and foster protective factors among children and adolescents in order to promote positive peer relations and healthy patterns of development over time.

For additional information, please visit www.positiveyouthdevelopmentlab.com.

Affiliations

  • School of Special Education School Psychology and Early Childhood Studies
  • Prevention and Intervention Network Center

Research Interests

Clinical Interventions, Conflict / Aggression, Emotion, Family-centered Services, Individual Mental Health

Education

  • Ph.D. in Clinical Child Psychology, University of Kansas, 2018
  • M.A. in Clinical Child Psychology, University of Kansas, 2014
  • B.A. in Psychology & Global Studies, College of William & Mary, 2010
  • Board-Certified Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychologist, American Board of Professional Psychology

Professional Appointments

  • Assistant Professor (2025–present), University of Florida, School Psychology Program
  • Assistant Professor (2020–2024), Texas Tech University, Clinical Psychology Program
  • NIMH T32 Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2018–2020), University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Department of Psychiatry

Activities and Honors

  • Irving and Rose Fien Endowed Professorship, College of Education, University of Florida (2025–2028)
  • Students' Choice Top Faculty Member, College of Arts & Sciences, Texas Tech University (2022)
  • President’s Emerging Engaged Scholarship Award, Texas Tech University (2022)
  • Mortar Board Apple Polishing Award, Texas Tech University (2021)
  • Future Directions Launch Award in Adversity, Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology Future Directions Forum (2019)
  • Doctoral Dissertation Passed with Honors, University of Kansas (2018)
  • Award for Outstanding Achievement in Graduate School in Clinical Child Psychology, University of Kansas (2016)
  • Albert Bandura Graduate Research Award, Psi Chi & Association for Psychological Science (2016)

Selected Grants

Investigating a Brief Positive Parenting Seminar Series as a Universal Intervention

Role
  • Faculty Sponsor
Funding Agency
  • Elizabeth Munsterberg Koppitz Child Psychology Graduate Student Fellowship, American Psychological Foundation
Project Period
  • 2024–2025
Award Amount
  • $20,000

Suicide Prevention in Primary Care

Role
  • Co-Principal Investigator
Funding Agency
  • American Rescue Plan Act, U.S. Department of Treasury & Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium
Project Period
  • 2022–2025
Award Amount
  • $1,487,165

Initial Evaluation of a Brief Preventive Intervention for Aggressive-Victims

Role
  • Principal Investigator
Funding Agency
  • John and Polly Sparks Early Career Grant for Psychologists Investigating Serious Emotional Disturbance, American Psychological Foundation
Project Period
  • 2022–2024
Award Amount
  • $22,000

Selected Publications

Books / Book Chapters

Presentations

  • Cooley, J. L., *Ricker, B. T., *Sanchez, C. R., *Lelakowska, G., *Pagán, A. F., & *Barnett, J. E. (2022, July). Initial evaluation of a brief preventive intervention for aggressive-victims [Invited talk]. Biennial Research Conference on Relational Aggression, Virtual Conference.
  • Cooley, J. L. (2019, June). Adversity within the peer context [Invited talk]. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology Future Directions Forum, Washington, DC, United States. Web Link: https://youtu.be/Jq6k0URJ1es
  • Fite, P. J., Cooley, J. L., & Evans, S. C. (2016, June). The impact of irritability on the prospective associations between internalizing symptoms and forms of aggression during middle childhood [Invited talk]

Books / Book Chapters

  • Sanchez, C. R., Cooley, J. L., Winters, D. E., *Ricker, B. T., & Fite, P. J. (in press). Associations between forms of aggression and peer victimization: Does prosocial behavior matter? Development and Psychopathology.
  • Pagán, A. F., *Ricker, B. T., Cooley, J. L., Cummings, C., & *Sanchez, C. R. (in press). ADHD symptoms and sleep problems during middle childhood: The indirect effect of peer victimization. Child Psychiatry & Human Development.
  • Ricker, B. T., Cooley, J. L., & Fite, P. J. (2024). Parental psychological control and childhood externalizing problems: Indirect effects through peer victimization. Journal of Child and Family Studies. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-023-02751-5
  • Mitchell, T. B., Cooley, J. L., Cummings, C., *Lelakowska, G., Wolfe, L. D., *Ricker, B. T., & Farias, R. (2023). Latent profiles of sleep disturbance and impairment in elementary school-age youth: Concurrent and longitudinal associations with emotional, behavioral, and academic functioning. Journal of Pediatric Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsad077
  • Fite, P. J., Cooley, J. L., Ryder, A., *Ricker, B. T., Hichborn, E., & Okeh, O. (2023). Bidirectional links between coping strategies and sibling and peer victimization among elementary school-age youth. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 45(2), 415-427. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-023-10044-w
  • Fite, P. J., Cooley, J. L., Díaz, K. I., Singh, M. N., & Zax, A. (2023). Impact of sibling victimization on child internalizing symptoms. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 53(3), 750-757. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01287-3
  • Bernard, D. L., O'Loughlin, K., Davidson, T. M., Rothbaum, A. O., Anton, M. T., Ridings, L. E., Cooley, J. L., Gavrilova, Y., Hink, A. B., & Ruggiero, K. J. (2023). Differences in mental health engagement and follow-up among Black and White patients after traumatic injury. Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, 94(1), 117-124. https://doi.org/10.1097/TA.0000000000003604
  • Cooley, J. L., & Taussig, H. N. (2022). Anger and attention problems as mechanisms linking maltreatment subtypes and witnessed violence to social functioning among children in out-of-home care. Child Maltreatment, 27(4), 647-657. https://doi.org/10.1177/10775595211038926
  • Ricker, B. T., Cooley, J. L., *Sanchez, C. R., **Gunder, E. M., **Dooley, J., **Chilton, M., & Ritschel, L. A. (2022). Prospective associations between peer victimization and internalizing symptoms in adolescence: The protective role of hope. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 44(3), 649–662. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-022-09966-8
  • Cooley, J. L., Fite, P. J., & Hoffman, L. (2022). Interactive effects of coping strategies and emotion dysregulation on childhood peer victimization. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 78, 101356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2021.101356
  • Cooley, J. L., Mitchell, T. B., Pastrana, F. A., & Hanson, R. F. (2022). Trauma-focused CBT in the context of parental chronic medical conditions: A case report. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 29(3), 682-697. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpra.2021.04.008
  • Fite, P. J., Cooley, J. L., Tampke, E. C., Hesse, D. R., & Doyle, R. L. (2022). The role of emotion dysregulation in the links between sibling victimization and internalizing symptoms in middle childhood. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 44(2), 560-569. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-022-09956-w
  • Cooley, J. L., Blossom, J. B., Tampke, E. C., & Fite, P. J. (2022). Emotion regulation attenuates the prospective links from peer victimization to internalizing symptoms during middle childhood. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 51(4), 495-504. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2020.1731819
  • Taussig, H. N., Dmitrieva, J., Garrido, E. F., Cooley, J. L., & Crites, E. (2021). Fostering Healthy Futures preventive intervention for children in foster care: Long-term delinquency outcomes from a randomized controlled trial. Prevention Science, 22(8), 1120-1133. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-021-01235-6
  • Evans, S. C., Cooley, J. L., Blossom, J. B., Pederson, C. A., Tampke, E., & Fite, P. J. (2020). Examining ODD/ADHD symptom dimensions as predictors of social, emotional, and academic trajectories in middle childhood. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 49(6), 912-929. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2019.1644645
  • Hubel, G. S., Cooley, J. L., Moreland, A. D. (2020). Incorporating evidence-based behavioral teacher training into Head Start mental health consultation: Description and initial outcomes of a large-scale program. Psychology in the Schools, 57(5), 735-756. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22348
  • Tampke, E. C., Fite, P. J., & Cooley, J. L. (2020). Bidirectional associations between affective empathy and proactive and reactive aggression. Aggressive Behavior, 46(4), 317-326. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ab.21891

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