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Biography
Rachel A Plouffe, PhD, is a Teaching and Research Lecturer in Psychology and has extensive research background in personality, individual differences, psychometrics, mental health, and close relationship behaviours. Rachel’s work is grounded in trait-based approaches to psychological functioning, with a particular focus on how personality contributes to risk and resilience in mental health and interpersonal outcomes.
Rachel completed her MSc and PhD degrees in Personality and Measurement Psychology at Western University, London, Canada, where her doctoral research examined the role of individual differences in vulnerability to interpersonal harm, including personality traits associated with victimisation and perpetration of intimate partner violence. During this time, she also developed a strong interest in developing and validating psychological assessment tools. Rachel’s first publication reflects the development of the Assessment of Sadistic Personality (Plouffe et al., 2017), which remains one of the most common measurement tools used to assess levels of subclinical sadism.
Following her PhD, Rachel was a Postdoctoral Associate with the MacDonald Franklin Operational Stress Injury Research and Innovation Centre (MFOSIRC) through St. Joseph’s Health Care and Western University, Canada. During her postdoctoral position, Rachel conducted research studies investigating associations between personality traits, mental health outcomes, and interpersonal functioning. This work involved collaborative projects spanning personality psychology, psychiatry, and psychometrics. For example, Rachel has developed and validated tools to assess moral injury and positive mental health in military Veterans and healthcare workers, two groups often exposed to chronic stress and trauma. Beyond her psychometrics work, Rachel's research explores protective and risk factors for mental health outcomes in these populations, including how individual differences and institutional environments shape psychological well-being. Rachel continues to collaborate with MFOSIRC on further refining mental health assessment tools for use in military members and Veterans.
Research
Rachel’s current research focuses on whether experiences of physical and psychological intimate partner violence (IPV) significantly predict levels of moral injury in the general community. She is particularly interested in how various protective and risk factors may moderate the impact of IPV victimisation on the development of moral injury, a construct traditionally studied in military populations but increasingly recognised in civilian contexts. This work bridges individual differences research with applied mental health, aiming to refine our understanding of how risk and protective factors interact to influence trauma outcomes.
Rachel has advanced training in psychological statistics, with particular expertise in structural equation modelling (SEM). She frequently applies these techniques in her research to test complex models, such as invariance testing, factor analysis, and item response theory.
Teaching
Rachel currently teaches on psychology modules at all undergraduate and postgraduate levels at the University of Dundee. She has achieved Fellowship Certification for Academic Practice in Higher Education, accredited by Advance Higher Education and the Higher Education Academy, United Kingdom.