Dr. Raley's research investigates family trends, the social determinants of family formation, and the impact of family change on social stratification. As part of a larger agenda examining the economic, social, and cultural contributors to marriage disparities in the United States, she investigates the influence of social contextual factors on relationship formation including marriage, cohabitation, and non-coresidential romantic or sexual relationships. Much of her work in this area has addressed racial and ethnic differences in marriage and cohabitation, but her current line of inquiry focuses on educational variation in family formation.