In Baku, Komarovsky lived a solidly middle-class lifestyle; she was homeschooled by private tutors and learned Russian, English, Hebrew, and French, as well as playing the piano.

Once in the United States, she graduated from Wichita High School within a year and in 1922,[3] she was admitted to Barnard College as part of the class of 1926.

One of her professors, sociologist William Ogburn, advised her not to pursue higher education, largely because of the prescribed gender roles and anti-semitism[4] at the time.

But she returned to Barnard in 1978 and became the chairwoman of its women's studies program until 1992[3][6] In 1973 and 1974, she became the second woman after Dorothy Swaine Thomas[3] to be president of the American Sociological Association.

Her research during the 1980s tracked many of the changes taking place in the consciousness of young women and their life choices in response to the feminist movement.