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I'm interested in how patterns of social relationships can support health or introduce risks to health, particularly in domains that might not seem obviously contagious but still have a social component, like mental health. I study how effects of social ties vary with context and other social features, such as gender, or for particularly at-risk groups, such as isolated youth.

My current research projects examine how connections with others relate to mental health and health behaviors in adolescence, in ways that can have lasting consequences into adulthood, and for older adults. Beyond the importance of peers to adolescent health, networks speak to broader questions of social support, contagion, and other mechanisms that link social life to physical and mental well-being across the life course. My work has recently been published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Social Networks, Social Forces, Social Science & Medicine, Journal of Gerontology: Series B, and Journal of Youth & Adolescence.

I've taught sociology and interdisciplinary courses in medical sociology, social statistics, demography, and social inequality. I've also taught graduate independent studies in social networks and health, as well as a short class introducing data analysis to undergraduates new to coding, and lectures and labs with the Duke Network Analysis Center Social Networks & Health Workshop.

Please feel free to contact me at mcope@msu.edu