 In "Methods of Life Course Research" (1998) she collaborated with her co-editor Glen H. Elder to articulate a theory of life course development.She also reported findings from her 1980s study of women graduates of Oberlin, Spelman, and Wellesley College.In "The Craft of Life Course Research" (2009) she demonstrates how four key background factors (identity, social networks, personal drive, and adaptive style) differ in white and African-American college-educated women who become either full-time homemakers, or who combine family and career.