[2] Lapsley worked as a research officer for the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand, rising to deputy director, and then in 1988 was appointed as a lecturer in psychology at the University of Waikato.
Most recently Lapsley was a senior researcher at the University of Auckland, and contributed to the Ageing Well National Science Challenge.
[3][4] Lapsley was a National Convenor of the Women's Studies Association, and as of October 2024[update] serves on the committee.
[5][1] Lapsley wrote a book on the professional and personal relationship between anthropologists Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict, which was published by the University of Massachusetts Press in 2001.
[6][7][8] Lapsley used to live on Waiheke Island, but bought into the Cohaus co-housing development in Grey Lynn with her partner Lois Cox.