John Maltby

University of Leicester | LE · College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology

In a multinational study (61 countries; N =15,039), we examined how collective narcissists, both agentic (ACN) and communal (CCN), reacted cognitively (through endorsement of unfounded conspiracy and health beliefs) and behaviorally (via prevention, hoarding, and prosociality) to the pandemic. Higher ACN and CCN predicted greater endorsement of COV...

A theoretical perspective on grandiose narcissism suggests four forms of it (sanctity, admiration, heroism, rivalry) and states that these forms conduce to different ways of thinking and acting. Guided by this perspective, we examined in a multinational and multicultural study (61 countries; N = 15,039) how narcissism forms are linked to cognitions...

This study explores the intricate relationship between social media usage and the mental health of young individuals by leveraging the insights of 492 UK school headteachers. It adopts a novel multidisciplinary approach, integrating perspectives from psychology, sociology, education studies, political science, philosophy, media studies, linguistics...

Instrumental behaviour is goal-directed when controlled by the value of the outcome and knowledge of the action-outcome contingency, otherwise it is deemed to be controlled by external stimuli (habit). It is accepted that stress modulates the control of instrumental actions in a manner that favours habitual over goal-directed control. Indeed, while...

Objective This study reconceptualized trait resilience, defining it as a network of systems; utilizing direct resilience assessments—engineering, ecological, adaptive capacity, social cohesion—and proxy resilience assessments—personality, cognitive, emotional, eudaimonia, and health. Background The background of the study addresses the fragmented...

Despite numerous qualitative and cross-sectional studies investigating how dog-related factors may impact owners’ well-being, empirical studies to test these causal effects are lacking. This prospective cohort study examined the correlation and potential causal effect of 17 dog-related factors with six well-being outcomes (depression, anxiety, lone...

Background Cascade genetic and imaging screening for relatives of people with non-syndromic thoracic aortic diseases (NS-TAD) is recommended by guidelines. However, the availability and uptake of cascade screening is low. The aim of this study was to use applied health research methods to identify barriers to screening, and strategies to overcome t...

Background Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global healthcare threat promoted by all use of antibiotics. Hence, reducing overuse of antibiotics is essential. The necessary behaviour change relies on effective public health communication, but previous information campaigns—while showing some successes—have fallen short in generating a lasting inc...

There is a set of hypotheses commonly used in the literature to explain how pets affect human well-being (e.g., pets as social catalysts). Many studies are reported as giving results consistent with one or more of these, but they may not appear to be sufficient to explain the impacts of several pet-related activities on owner well-being. Confirmati...

Background: Although cognitive and motor symptoms of Huntington's disease (HD) are associated with disease progression, the underlying causes of psychological symptoms are not as clearly understood. Recent evidence suggests that some mental health difficulties experienced by people with HD are shared by noncarriers within HD families. Accordingly,...

SElf-report questionaires asking about the reasons and means of war, with distinction between morally restricted and morally unrestricted. Preliminary data.

The current paper presents a five-factor measurement model of anger summarizing scores on public-domain self-report measures of anger. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of self-report measures of anger (UK, n = 500; USA, n = 625) suggest five replicable latent anger factors: anger-arousal, anger-rumination, frustration-discomfort, anger-...

Most research on the development of personality traits like the Dark Triad (i.e., narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) focuses on local effects like parenting style or attachment, but people live in a larger society that may set the stage for any local effects. Here we paired nation-level data on the traits from 49 nations with several mi...

Introduction Low self-compassion and poor sleep quality have been identified as potential key predictors of distress in type 2 diabetes (T2D). This study investigated relationships between sleep behaviors (sleep duration, social jetlag and daytime sleepiness), diabetes-related distress (DRD) and self-compassion in people with T2D. Research design...

This study sought to develop a new scale of irrational happiness beliefs (IHB) and test its reliability and validity across two British samples. The participants were subjected to a series of happiness, rationality, irrationality, and subjective and psychological well-being measures. The exploratory (n = 207) and confirmatory factor analyses (n = 1...

The current paper seeks to solve theoretical and well-being ambiguities presented by the concept of valuing happiness by proposing that extant assessment represents a two-factor model situated within goal type theory. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the valuing happiness scale among UK and US student and adult samples confirmed stru...

Background: Despite experimental evidence for concurrent dementia and visual impairment, there are no currently validated vision-related quality of life measures for use in this population. Objective: To establish the extent to which individuals with mild to moderate dementia self-report visual impairment and determine the efficacy of establishe...

Background: Cognitive decline is classically attributed to organic causes such as dementia; however, depression can play a role in cognitive decline. Objective: To evaluate cognitive screening tools and the 4-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-4) for use in primary care to distinguish cognitive decline secondary to depression. Method: Clinic...

The integration of dispositional characteristics of personality and coping as part of an adaptation-continuum model of personality and coping has become a focal point in recent studies. The model has been used to provide a context in which to understand the factors related to human health and well-being. The present study sought to investigate the...

Aim: To examine resilience in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning within an ecological model, identifying the psychological processes associated with resilient, and non-resilient learning to develop a framework for promoting STEM resilience. Sample and method: From a sample of secondary-school students (n = 4,936),...

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been a source of fear around the world. We asked whether the measurement of this fear is trustworthy and comparable across countries. In particular, we explored the measurement invariance and cross-cultural replicability of the widely used Fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S), testing community samples from 48 countri...

The current paper establishes the latent factors of many direct or proxy trait resilience assessments. Study 1 (n=849) demonstrates four latent factors (recovery, sustainability, adaptability, and social cohesion) among 61 direct and proxy assessments of resilience. Three of these four factors are best described within a three-factor model of ecolo...

Significance: Logarithmic reading charts provide standardised measures of reading performance. Here we show that existing charts provide equivalent assessments of visual aspects of reading that are in good agreement with traditional measures of visual acuity and appear uninfluenced by cognitive (linguistic) factors. Purpose: To (1) determine the...

Background: Memory complaints are frequent among young adults presenting in general practice. Many of them will have reversable, functional cognitive impairment that can easily be mistaken for dementia. Its accurate and timely identification is warranted to prevent further escalation to overt dementia syndrome. Objective: To evaluate the recomme...

Introduction Mental health difficulties are common among people with Huntington’s disease (HD). However, such difficulties are only weakly associated with HD progression, suggesting their causes may be multifactorial rather than purely disease-related. Genetically unaffected family members have been shown to experience similar levels of mental dist...

Background People living with HIV (PLWH) are at increased risk of reactivation of latent TB infection (LTBI). Although UK and international guidelines identify this group as a priority for LTBI screening and treatment, data on attitudes of PLWH to this policy recommendation are lacking. Methods A five-point, Likert-style questionnaire was administ...

Cross-sectional comparisons of well-being between dog owners and non-owners commonly generate inconsistent results. Focusing on the uniqueness of the relationship might help address this issue and provide a stronger foundation for dog-related psychotherapeutic interventions. This study aims to evaluate the impact of dog-related activities (e.g., ex...

Abstract Background: This study further explores the naturally emerging structure of wellbeing. Practitioners often measure the subjective well-being (SWB) construct, though a “Big Two” (hedonic vs eudaimonic) or “Big Three” (hedonic, eudaimonic, psychosocial/ tripartite) model may deserve more attention. Furthermore, theories of well-being often i...

Introduction the aim of this study was to develop a programme theory to inform the design of loneliness interventions and guide any future evaluations. Methods we undertook a mixed-method evaluation, informed by the realist approach, of different approaches to loneliness in one health and social care system in the East Midlands, UK. We used a comb...

Learning in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) is challenging, leaving many students to give up on these subjects. Specifically, females are underrepresented in STEM industries. Identifying how male and female students deal with STEM learning challenges, and how this relates to learning outcomes, may inform teaching that best...

We examined how encoding view influences the information that is stored in and retrieved from memory during an eyewitness identification task. Participants watched a mock crime and we varied the angle from which they viewed the perpetrator. In Experiment 1, participants (N = 2904) were tested with a static photo lineup; the viewing angle of the lin...

This article presents a short research report on the relationship between perceived antagonism in social relations measured using the Belief in a Zero-Sum Game (BZSG) scale, life satisfaction, and positive and negative affect. Given that individuals who believe that life is like a zero-sum game are likely to perceive their daily interactions with o...

Objective Perception of touch is expected at the location where it is applied. However, there are indications that being touched may be perceived on the contralateral side when seen as a reflection in a mirror at midline. Such inter-lateral referral of sensation (RS) lacks evidence, as mirror therapy research usually focusses on movement-based tech...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.609617.].

Research documents a decline in risk-taking during peak fertility, which has been taken to suggest that fertile women may have inherent rape-avoidance adaptive mechanisms, particularly during the ovulatory phase. However, it cannot be known from previous research whether the decline in risk taking is specific to situations of increased risk of rape...

The correlational study is aimed at validating the Authenticity Scale in Russian culture. Authenticity is considered a trait responsible for a person’s ability to be oneself. It helps people resist environment pressure and prevent self-alienation, which contributes to maintaining psychological wellbeing. The original Authenticity Scale includes thr...

Please, attention! Corrigendum has been added. The correlational study is aimed at validating the Authenticity Scale in Russian culture. Authenticity is considered a trait responsible for a person’s ability to be oneself. It helps people resist environment pressure and prevent self-alienation, which contributes to maintaining psychological wellbei...

Fertile women may have inherent rape-avoidance mechanisms according to past research, with women differentially responding to a scenario implying rape compared to a control scenario when fertile (Petralia & Gallup, 2002). However, it is unclear whether these results mean that fertile women are responding to rape cues specifically, or physical dange...

There is notorious inconsistency regarding mental health benefits of dog ownership, partially due to repeated cross-sectional studies comparing dog owners and non-owners, without taking into account the heterogeneity of dog-owner dyads, especially the activities with which the owners are involved. This study aimed to develop a comprehensive framewo...

Objective: The aim of the study was to compare uni- and multidimensional models of social isolation to improve the specificity of determining associations between social isolation and frailty. Methods: The study included participants aged ≥60 years from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing assessed for social isolation and frailty (frailty inde...

Abstract Objectives: The Dark Triad traits (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism) capture individual differences in aversive personality to complement work on other taxonomies, such as the Big Five traits. However, the literature on the Dark Triad traits relies mostly on samples from English-speaking (i.e., Westernized) countries. We bro...

Background: The aim of the study was to develop a multidimensional quality of life instrument suitable for use among individuals across cultures who have an informal care role for older persons. Methods: Participants were informal carers of older adults in the United Kingdom ( n = 308), United States ( n = 164), and China ( n = 131). We carried out...

Recently, the field of eyewitness identification has undergone a radical transformation, using signal-detection theory, models, and associated analyses to answer the important applied question of how police should test a witness’s memory of a criminal perpetrator. Here, we used these analytical techniques and the basic science of face memory to exa...

Background: The Salzburg Dementia Test Prediction (SDTP), developed using artificial intelligence and based on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), was recently introduced as a brief cognitive screening tool for cognitive impairment. Objective: In the current study, we investigated whether the STDP can be used as a valid bed-side cognitive...

The Dark Triad (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism) has garnered intense attention over the last 15 years. We examined the structure of these traits’ measure—the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen (DTDD)—in a sample of 11,488 participants from three W.E.I.R.D. (i.e., North America, Australia & Oceania, Western Europe) and five non-W.E.I.R.D. (i.e....

Objective: Persons with Huntington's disease (HD) often have communication difficulties and cognitive impairments, making mental health assessment difficult. Informants close to the patient are often included in assessments. The authors investigated effects of informant presence during assessment of persons with HD. Methods: Data for four subsam...

The concept of resilience is increasingly influential in the development of interventions and services for young people, yet there is limited knowledge of how resilience-building strategies are conceptualized by young people across different cultures, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The aim of this study was to capture 274 young p...

Background: Psychological distress is frequently observed in neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) having a significant impact on function, quality of life (QOL), caregiver burden, and illness cost. As higher psychological resilience can protect against negative outcomes and aid in the successful adjustment to illness, identifying resilience factors i...

Although there has been increasing attention on the impact of risk and resilience factors on refugee children’s mental health, there has been limited evidence on the role of parental factors to inform interventions, and this predominantly relies on adult reports. The aim was to investigate the relationship between perceived parenting styles and att...

Objective: The current study adopted a lay theories approach to examine how everyday ideas of the key characteristics of resilience are consistent with an ecological systems theory of resilience across several countries. Method: We compared the factor structure of lay theories of resilience across five countries (n=3793; 1499 males, 2285 females, 9...

Children exposed to multiple adversities are at high risk of developing complex mental health and related problems, which are more likely to be met through integrated interprofessional working. Combining the expertise of different practitioners for interprofessional care is especially pertinent in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) in the abse...

Anxiety is common among both those who have tested positive for Huntington disease (HD) and those untested but at-risk for HD. Psychological interventions to help people with HD cope with anxiety, and the mechanisms that underlie anxiety in HD, are under-researched. Among the limited research, there are modifiable factors such as illness perception...

We tested whether there are age-related declines in detecting cues to trustworthiness, a skill that has been demonstrated to be rapid and automatic in younger adults. Young (Mage = 21.2 years) and older (Mage = 70.15 years) adults made criminal appearance judgments to unfamiliar faces, which were presented at a duration of 100, 500 or 1,000 ms. Par...

War-torn children are particularly vulnerable through direct trauma exposure as well through their parents’ responses. This study thus investigated the association between trauma exposure and children’s mental health, and the contribution of parent-related factors in this association. A cross-sectional study with 263 Syrian refugee children-parent...

Objective: To explore the factor structure of the UK Functional Independence Measure and Functional Assessment Measure (FIM+FAM) among focal and diffuse acquired brain injury patients. Design: Criterion standard. Setting: An NHS acute acquired brain injury inpatient rehabilitation hospital. Participants: Referred sample of 447 adults (835 ca...

Low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMIC) are faced with disproportionately high levels of unmet child mental health needs. This study explored through interviews the perspectives of 17 inter‐agency service stakeholders from Brazil, Indonesia, Kenya, Pakistan, Rwanda and Turkey on existing supports and challenges. Four themes emerged on the holistic...

Low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) are faced with disproportionately high levels of unmet child mental health needs. This study explored through interviews the perspectives of 17 inter-agency stakeholders from Brazil, Indonesia, Kenya, Pakistan, Rwanda and Turkey on existing supports and challenges. Four themes emerged on the holistic nature o...

The current study explores the problem with the lack of measurement invariance for the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) by addressing two issues: conceptual heterogeneity of narcissism and methodological issues related to the binary character of data. We examine the measurement invariance of the 13-item version of the NPI in three populatio...

This study experimentally examined the role of victim alcohol intoxication and self-blame in perceiving and reporting rape to the police using a hypothetical interactive rape scenario. Participants (N = 79) were randomly assigned to consume alcohol (mean BAC = .07%) or tonic water before they engaged in the scenario. Alcohol expectancy was manipula...

This report examines the measurement invariance of the Personal Well-being Index with 8 items (PWI-8). University students (N = 5,731) from 26 countries completed the measure either through paper and pencil or electronic mode. We examined unidimensional structure of PWI and performed a Multi-group CFA (MGCFA) to assess the measurement invariance ac...

Research suggests that trait resilience may be best understood within an ecological resilient systems theory, comprising engineering, ecological, and adaptive capacity resilience. However, there is no evidence as to how this theory translates to specific life domains. Data from two samples (the United States, n = 1,278; the United Kingdom, n = 211)...

Objective: The Mental Health Continuum – Short Form is a brief scale measuring positive human functioning. The study aimed to examine the factor structure and to explore the cross cultural utility of the MHC-SF using bifactor models and exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM). Method: Using multigroup confirmatory analysis (MGCFA) we exa...

For decades, it has been observed that stress affects cognition and behaviour through a number of different mechanisms. Recently, reports in rodents and humans have shown that stress prompts habit formation, as assessed through outcome devaluation tests during extinction. However, stress also promotes resistance to extinction, so it is not clear wh...

This project describes the development of the Resilient Systems Scales, created to address conceptual and methodological ambiguities in assessing the ecological systems model of resilience. Across a number of samples (total N = 986), our findings suggest that the Resilient Systems Scales show equivalence to a previously reported assessment (Maltby,...

The research studied organisations' transition from failing or poorly performance to recovery. It identifies strategic keys that could be utilised in the healthcare context, based on resilience theory.

Patients die every year because of failure to recognize early warnings of deterioration. A contributing factor is poor team communication and situational awareness. This paper describes the practitioner-centred design of a safety huddles toolkit. Interviews, observations and collective discussions conducted synchronously (face-face) and asynchronou...

Background: Positive psychology interventions have been shown to increase happiness and well-being, and researchers are beginning to speculate on the mechanisms through which these interventions may be effective, such as positive emotion, behavior and thought. Short interventions matched to an individual’s current context may be a route to boosting...

Alleviating the personal and social burden associated with substance use disorders requires the implementation of a comprehensive strategy, including outreach, education, community interventions, psychiatric treatment, and access to needle exchange programs (NEP), where peer support may be available. Given that substantial research underscores the...

Research finds we make spontaneous trait inferences from facial appearance, even after brief exposures to a face (i.e., less than or equal to 100 ms). We examined spontaneous impressions of criminality from facial appearance, testing whether these impressions persist after repeated presentation (i.e., one to three exposures) and increased exposure...

Background: Elevated levels of irritability are reported to occur in a number of neurological conditions, including Huntington's disease (HD), a genetic neurodegenerative disorder. Snaith's Irritability Scale (SIS) is used within HD research, but no psychometric evaluation of this instrument has previously been undertaken. Therefore, the current s...

Purpose: To develop a nystagmus-specific quality-of-life (QOL) questionnaire derived from patient concerns based on eudaimonic aspects of well-being. Design: Cross-sectional study. Participants: A total of 206 participants with nystagmus for factor analysis phase and an additional 42 participants with nystagmus for construct validity phase. M...

The study explored how scores on the three dimensions of the Engineering, Ecological, and Adaptive Capacity (EEA) trait resilience scale, derived from Holling’s ecological systems theory of resilience, demonstrate fit within higher-order bifactor models of measurement, cultural invariance, and associations with clinical caseness of affect. Three sa...