Skip to main content Skip to navigation
Washington State University

Sara Waters

Sara Waters

Associate Professor 360-546-9272 McClaskey 226, Vancouver 14204 NE SALMON CREEK AVE http://directory.vancouver.wsu.edu/people/sara-waters

Curriculum Vitae (pdf)

Education/Training

  • Ph.D. Human Development, University of California, Davis, 2011
  • M.S. Child Development, University of California, Davis, 2008
  • B.A. Psychology; English, University of California, Berkeley, 2003

Professional Experience

January 2015-Present
Assistant Professor, Department of Human Development, Washington State University

September 2014-December 2014
Visiting Research Scientist, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco

2012-2014
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco

2011-2012
Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of the Pacific

Research Interests

  • Children’s emotional and physiological self-regulation
  • Child-caregiver attachment bond
  • Biological mechanisms linking early adversity to health outcomes
  • Preventive interventions for trauma-exposed families

Current Funding

  • The What’s in Your Heart? Program: Feasibility, Development, and Pilot Study. Frontiers of Innovation, Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child. $13,375 Role: Co-Investigator (3/2019-5/2020)
  • Using Native Knowledge and Intervention Science to Heal Intergenerational Trauma in a NW Tribe. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Interdisciplinary Leaders Program. $350,000. Role: Principle Investigator (9/2018-9/2021)
  • Promoting health equity and resilience in disadvantaged populations. Washington State University Grand Challenges Grant. ($4,127,320) PI: Paul Whitney. Role: Co-Investigator. (August 2016-December 2021).
  • Developmental origins of health and disease: Identifying potential mechanisms for intergenerational transmission of risk and resilience. Washington State University Grand Challenges Seed Grant. ($74,305) Role: Principal Investigator. (July 2016-December 2017).
  • Building caregiver capacities through psychoeducation on early childhood development: Attachment vitamins. Harvard University Center for the Developing Child. ($10,000) PI: Alicia Lieberman. Role: Co-Investigator. (June 2016-December 2017).
  • Assessing children’s physiological reactivity in the field. Washington State University, Vancouver Mini Grant. ($8,000) Role: Principal Investigator. (May 2016-May 2017).

Selected Publications

Waters, S. F., Hulette, A., Davis, M., Bernstein, R., & Lieberman, A. (2018).Evidence for Attachment Vitamins: A trauma-informed universal prevention program for parents of young children. Early Child Development and Care. doi:10.1080/03004430.2-18.1516650

Karnilowicz, H. R.,Waters, S. F., & Mendes, W. B. (2018). Not in front of the kids: Effects of parental suppression on socialization behaviors during parent-child interaction. Emotion. doi:10.1037/emo0000527

Waters, S. F., West, T. V., Karnilowicz, H. R., & Mendes, W. B. (2017). Affect contagion between mothers and infants: Exploring the role of valence and touch. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 146, 1043-1051.

Waters, S.F., & Mendes, W.B. (2016). Physiological and relational predictors of mother-infant behavioral coordination. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology, 2(4), 298-310.

Waters, S.F., & Thompson, R.A. (2016). Children’s perceptions of emotion regulation strategy effectiveness: Links with attachment security. Attachment & Human Development, 18(4), 354-372.

Waters, S.F., Boyce, T., Eskenazi, B., & Alkon, A. (2016). The impacts of maternal depression and overcrowding housing on associations between physiological reactivity and behavior problems in impoverished Latino children. Psychophysiology, 53(1), 97-104.

Alkon, A., Waters, S.F., Boyce, T., & Eskenazi, B. (2016). Latino children’s autonomic nervous system reactivity moderates the relations between cumulative socioeconomic adversity in the first five years and externalizing behavior problems at seven years. Advances in Pediatric Research, 3(6), 1-16.

Waters, S.F., Hagan, M.J., Rivera, L., & Lieberman, A. (2015). Improvements in the child-rearing attitudes of Latina mothers exposed to interpersonal trauma predict greater maternal sensitivity toward their 6-month-old infants. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 28(5), 426-433.

Waters, S.F., West, T.V., & Mendes, W.B. (2014). Stress contagion: Physiological covariation in mothers and babies. Psychological Science, 25(4), 934-942.

Waters, S.F., & Thompson, R.A. (2014). Children’s perceptions of the effectiveness of strategies for regulating anger and sadness. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 38(2), 139-141.

Meyer, S.C., Raikes, H.A., Virmani, E.A., Waters, S.F., & Thompson, R.A. (2014). Parent emotion representations and the socialization of emotion regulation in the family. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 38(2), 164-173.

Waters, S.F., Virmani, E.A., Thompson, R.A., Meyer, S.C., Raikes, H.A., & Jochem, R. (2010). Emotion regulation and attachment: Unpacking two constructs and their association. Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 32(1), 37-47.

Goodlin-Jones, B., Waters, S.F., & Anders, T.F. (2009). Objective sleep measure in typically and atypically developing children with ADHD-like profiles. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 40(2), 257-268.