Professor Carr's interests include social psychology, aging and the life course, gender, and family. She teaches undergraduate introductory sociology and social psychology courses, and graduate courses on social psychology, sociology of the life course, social structure and personality, social demography, and advanced research methods. She is co-author of Essentials of Sociology, 2nd ed. (2007, W. W. Norton), and Introduction to Sociology, 7th ed. (in press, W. W. Norton), and editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of the Life Course and Human Development (in press, Cengage).

One strand of her research focuses on how work and family experiences over the life course and across birth cohorts affect men's and women's psychological well-being. These studies have appeared in Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Journal of Marriage and Family, Psychological Inquiry, Social Psychology Quarterly, Sociological Methodology and several edited volumes.  She recently co-authored a trade book on the ways that generational differences in women’s work and family roles shape mother-daughter relationships: Making Up with Mom: Why Mothers and Daughters Disagree about Kids, Careers, and Casseroles (and What to Do about it) (2008, St. Martin’s Press/Thomas Dunne).

A second strand of her research focuses on bereavement and end-of-life decision-making among older adults. She is interested in how demographic, technological, and social/political changes affect the experiences of the dying and their families. This research has appeared in Aging International, Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, Journal of Family Issues, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Journal of Marriage and Family, Research on Aging, The Gerontologist, and several edited volumes. She is co-editor of Spousal Bereavement in Late Life (2006,Springer Publishing). She recently received two grants from NIA to study end-of-life planning among older adults; one study focuses on healthy older adults in Wisconsin , and the other focuses on chronically ill older adults seeking care in central New Jersey hospitals. Her third area of research focuses on the social, psychological, and interpersonal consequences of body weight and obesity. This work has appeared in Body Image, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Obesity, and Social Psychology Quarterly.
 
Carr is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America, a member of the honorary Sociological Research Association, and trends editor of Contexts (an American Sociological Association publication). She sits on the editorial boards of Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Journal of Marriage and Family, Psychology of Women, Sociological Compass and Sociological Forum. She also serves on the councils of the American Sociological Association sections on Aging & the Life Course, Medical Sociology, and Social Psychology.