Her work examines incarceration’s impact on families and neighborhoods, emphasizing the gendered aspects of family members’ connections to prisoners, as well as the disparate impact on racial and ethnic minority groups. She has conducted research about family visitation at prisons and the social and economic implications of maintaining ties to prisoners. Her recent work focuses on the role of informal social support in the reentry process, including a study of a family-based prisoner reentry intervention for young people and a mentoring program for formerly incarcerated women. Christian has presented her research throughout the United States as well as in England and Singapore and is a member of the Racial Democracy, Crime and Justice Network, formerly based at Ohio State University and currently at Rutgers University-Newark.