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Sarah Vaala

Research associate, Vanderbilt University

Sarah Vaala was a Martin Fishbein Postdoctoral Fellow at the Annenberg Public Policy Center. She completed her Ph.D. in Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication in 2011. Sarah is interested in the educational and health implications of media in the lives of children and adolescents, as well as the ways caregivers perceive and make decisions about their children’s media use. Her dissertation investigates how mothers' cognitions, life circumstances, and perceptions of early childhood brain development explain infants’ and toddlers’ exposure to foreground and background television. Prior to joining APPC, Sarah was a Research Fellow at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop where she focused on industry and educational implications of the growing popularity of mobile technologies as well as the current use and educational potential of digital technologies for Hispanic-Latino families.
Selected publications:

  • Gottfried, J. A, Vaala, S. E., Bleakley, A., Hennessy, M. & Jordan, A. B. (2013). Does the Effect of Exposure to TV Sex on Adolescent Sexual Behavior Vary by Genre? Communication Research.
  • Lapierre, M. A., Vaala, S. E., & Linebarger, D. L. (2011). The influence of licensed spokes-characters and health cues on young children’s subjective ratings of cereal taste. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 165(3), 229-234.
  • Vaala, S. E., Linebarger, D. L., Fenstermacher, S. K., Tedone, A., Brey, E., Barr, R., Moses, A., Shwery, C. E. & Calvert, S.L. (2011). Content analysis of language-promoting teaching strategies used in infant-directed media. Infant and Child Development, 19(6), 628-648.
Manuscripts under review:
  • Vaala, S. E. & Lapierre, M. A. Marketing genius: The impact of educational claims and cues on parents’ reactions to infant/toddler DVDs. Based on a paper presented at the annual convention of the International Communication Association. Phoenix, AZ. (2012, June).
  • Vaala, S.E. Mothers’ perceptions of screen media use with their infants and toddlers. Based on a paper presented at the bi-annual convention of the Society for Research in Child Development. Montreal, Canada. (2011, April).