Her research focuses on how policies impact the lives of low-income families, economic influences on family stability, and the reliance on kin support among low-income families. Her prior work has been published in the American Sociological Review, Demography, Social Forces, and several other journals. She is currently collaborating with Daniel Schneider from UC Berkeley on the Retail Work and Family Life Study, a study of scheduling practices in the retail sector and their effects on workers' health, well-being, and family life. This study has collected survey data from several thousand retail and food service workers nationwide.