Lorraine graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours) in Psychology from University College Dublin (UCD) in 2000 before completing a Master of Psychological Science in Health Psychology at the National University of Ireland, Galway, in 2002. She returned to UCD in 2003 to study for her PhD in Psychology on the topic of children's perceptions of psychological disorders in their peers. Prior to taking up her lectureship at Trinity in 2009, Lorraine worked as a researcher on the National Longitudinal Study of Children in Ireland, Growing Up in Ireland.