Haavio-Mannila became attracted to sociology during her studies after reading an English-language elementary textbook on the subject.
A book by Haavio-Mannila and Kontula in 1993, Finnish sex attracted attention at the end of the 1990s, as there was opposition by some to their research results, citing the relative rarity of homosexuality .
[6][7] During her academic career, Haavio-Mannila was often in the media commenting on social issues and writing several books.
[11] In her retirement years, she has been actively involved in two broad international research projects: “Refer: Reproductive Health and Family Models in Russia, Estonia and Finland” and “Gentrans: Generations Chain - Study on Interaction and Helping each other with Large Baby Boomers and Their Children and Parents”.
She characterizes retirement research as volunteering, for which she has received congressional assistance with travel and a computer.