Biography

Sarah D. Lynne is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, at the University of Florida. She is a developmental psychologist specializing in adolescence and healthy transitions to adulthood. During her postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, she gained expertise in evidence-based strategies to promote well-being and prevent risky behavior among young people. She also worked as a Society for Research in Child Development Policy Fellow providing her with a unique perspective regarding how policy can play a role in promoting youth well-being. She is the Co-Director of the Connection and Community Initiative, a University of Florida initiative funded by the Office of the Provost that aims to support student mental health through partnerships with students, staff, faculty, and administrators across UF. She is also an affiliate faculty of the University of Florida Prevention and Intervention Network, the chair-elect of the University of Florida Faculty Senate, and Fellow for the SEC ’s Academic Leadership Development Program. A primary goal of her research, teaching, outreach, and leadership is to promote health and well-being and reduce risk of violence and other negative outcomes. She does this by understanding how the context in which we are born, grow, learn, and live impacts people, relationships, families, and communities. 

Using advanced quantitative statistical methods, Dr. Lynne conducts lifespan research on pathways to substance use and related mental, physical, and behavioral health problems complimenting original data collection with evaluations of large archival longitudinal datasets. She takes an ecological perspective, focusing on the interplay between individual characteristics, interpersonal relationships, and context across childhood and adolescence, with primary expertise in the biopsychosocial changes of adolescence. She has worked on the development, implementation, and evaluation of preventive interventions, including an ongoing evaluation of a teen pregnancy prevention program implemented in a rural Florida county. She has also collaborated with a team of researchers from the University of Florida and the Cherokee Nation on a community-based intervention to prevent youth alcohol use.  In addition, she is leading a NIH/NCATS funded study evaluating the association between pubertal timing, brain development, and psychosocial/behavioral adjustment among girls 8 – 12 years old.

Research Interests

• Prevention Science
• Quantitative Methodology
• Adolescent Development