Debra Umberson's research focuses on structural determinants of physical and mental health, with a specific focus on gender and life course variation. She emphasizes the behavioral, social, and psychological mechanisms through which structural determinants affect health.

She is now completing a book on the impact of a parent's death on adult children and families based on research supported by a FIRST Award from the National Institute on Aging (NIA#AGO5440). Articles on this topic have appeared in the American Sociological Review, Journal of Marriage and the Family, and Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. Recent research considers gender differences in the effects of personal control on acts of domestic violence (Journal of Marriage and the Family, 1998). She is extending this work to argue that violence should be viewed as a structured outcome of stress in certain social groups. Her newest research project (NIA#AG17455) examines change in marital quality over the life course. This project will determine how multiple facets of marital quality affect mental health, physical health, and health behavior and how these effects may change over the life course.