Her research focuses on adolescent dating and sexual relationships within ecodevelopmental contexts, particularly among understudied youth populations including Mexican American youths, pregnant and parenting youths in foster care, and adolescents with disabilities. Within a holistic approach to dating health, her work aims to prevent teenage dating violence and to foster strong foundations for healthy adolescent and lifelong partnering. She uses mixed methods to inform the design and evaluation of effective pre­ventative interventions and social work practice with adolescents.