Positive Psychology, Wellbeing and Individual Differences
These LJMU researchers collectively span key areas of psychology relating to different aspects of wellbeing, including mental, emotional, social, digital, civic, and educational wellbeing, individual differences and positive psychology:
- Andrew Denovan focuses on individual differences, wellbeing, stress, and psychometrics.
- Darren Chadwick studies the wellbeing, community and digital inclusion, and social experiences of people with intellectual disabilities.
- David McIlroy examines how psychological factors shape educational performance and student wellbeing.
- Olga Ferreras explores transpersonal psychology, creativity, and coaching.
- Sam Roberts investigates how social relationships and network structures influence human wellbeing.
Faq Items
Members
Current and representative publications
- Blötner, C., Dinić, B. M., Denovan, A., Dagnall, N., Krstić, P., Papageorgiou, K. A., ... and Plouffe, R. A. (2025). The Machiavellian approach and avoidance questionnaire: Further validation and evidence of cross-national validity. Journal of Personality Assessment, 107(4), 463-475.
- Buell, S., and Chadwick, D. (2023). Transitions into Older Adulthood by People with Intellectual Disabilities: An Email Conversation. International Journal of Educational and Life Transitions, 2(1), 1-10.
- Caba-Machado V, Mcilroy D, Padilla-Adamuz, F.M. (2024). Night-time use of electronic devices, fear of missing out, sleep difficulties, anxiety, and well-being in UK and Spain: a cross-cultural comparison. Current Psychology, 43(24): 21134-21145.
- Caba Machado, V., Mcilroy, D., Padilla Adamuz, F.M. Murphy, R. and Palmer-Conn, S. (2022). The associations of social network sites with perceived social support and loneliness. Current Psychology.
- Chadwick, D. D., Buell, S. (2023). Interactional power and support in digital inclusion of an adult with intellectual disabilities: A case study analysis. Journal of Research in Special Education, 23, 251–261.
- Chadwick, D. D., Buell, S., Burgess, E., and Peters, V. (2023). “I would be lost without it but it's not the same” experiences of adults with intellectual disabilities of using information and communication technology during the COVID‐19 global pandemic. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 51, 148–162. https://doi.org/10.1111/bld.12522
- Chadwick, D. D., Richards, C., Molin, M. and Strnadová, I. (2023). Editorial: Digital inclusion and people with learning disabilities. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 51.
- Clements, F., Chadwick, D.D. and Orchard, L. (2024). A Scoping Review Investigating the Prevalence of Cyberbullying Victimisation and Experiences in Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Journal of Intellectual Disabilities, 1-17. 17446295241252214.
- Clements, F., Chadwick, D.D. and Orchard, L. A. (2023) “I'm not the same person now”: The psychological impact of experiences of online risks and negative online communication for adults with intellectual disabilities. New Media & Society.
- Dagnall, N., Denovan, A., and Drinkwater, K. G. (2025). Examining the degree to which paranormal belief and conspiracy endorsement influence meaning in life: sequential mediating effects of creativity and self-esteem. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1567920.
- Dagnall, N., Denovan, A., Drinkwater, K. G., and Escolà-Gascón, Á. (2025). Paranormal belief and conspiracy theory endorsement: variations in adaptive function and positive wellbeing. Frontiers in psychology, 16, 1519223.
- Denovan, A., and Dagnall, N. (2025). Using exploratory structural equation modelling to examine the psychometric properties of the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale. Current Psychology, 44(13), 12863-12879.
- Denovan, A., Dagnall, N., Artamonova, E., and Papageorgiou, K. A. (2024). Evaluation of the 10-item Mental Toughness Questionnaire (MTQ10): cross-cultural assessment and scrutiny of method effects. Current Psychology, 43(40), 31254-31266.
- Denovan, A., Dagnall, N., and Drinkwater, K. (2024). The Chronic Time Pressure Inventory: Further assessment of factorial structure and validity. PeerJ, 12, e17373.
- Denovan, A., Dagnall, N., and Drinkwater, K. (2023). Non-cognitive adaptive resourcefulness: scrutiny of its multidimensionality and nomological validity. Psychological Reports, 00332941231221502.
- Denovan, A., Dagnall, N., and Drinkwater, K. (2023). Examining what Mental Toughness, Ego Resiliency, Self-efficacy, and Grit measure: An exploratory structural equation modelling bifactor approach. Current Psychology, 42(26), 22148-22163.
- Denovan, A., Dagnall, N., Drinkwater, K., and Escolà-Gascón, Á. (2023). Evaluating the psychometric properties of the Chronic Time Pressure Inventory using Rasch analysis. PeerJ, 11, e15218.
- Denovan, A., Dagnall, N., Drinkwater, K., and Escolà-Gascón, Á. (2024). The Inventory of Personality Organization-Reality Testing Subscale and Belief in Science Scale: Confirmatory factor and Rasch analysis of thinking style measures. Plos one, 19(9), e0310055.
- Denovan, A., Plouffe, R. A., Dagnall, N., Artamonova, E., Kowalski, C. M., and Saklofske, D. H. (2024). Dark triad, dyad, or core? A psychometric evaluation of the Short Dark Triad (SD3) across three countries. Current Psychology, 43(47), 36086-36103.
- Denovan, A., Powell, D., and Dagnall, N. (2026). Further assessment of the non-cognitive adaptive resourcefulness model (NCAR) comprising mental toughness, resilience, and self-efficacy: Relationships with emotional intelligence and chronic time pressure. Frontiers in Psychology, 17, 1718213.
- Dinić, B. M., Dagnall, N., Denovan, A., Došenović, A., and Neave, N. (2024). Assessing conspiracist beliefs across societies: validation of the Serbian adaptation of the Generic Conspiracist Beliefs Scale (GCBS). International Journal of Psychology, 59(2), 322-330.
- Drinkwater, K. G., Denovan, A., and Dagnall, N. (2024). Paranormal belief, psychopathological symptoms, and well-being: Latent profile analysis and longitudinal assessment of relationships. Plos one, 19(3), e0297403.
- Drinkwater, K. G., Denovan, A., and Dagnall, N. (2024). Re-evaluation of the relationship between paranormal belief and perceived stress using statistical modelling. PloS one, 19(11), e0312511.
- Escolà-Gascón, Á., Dagnall, N., Denovan, A., Drinkwater, K., and Diez-Bosch, M. (2023). Who falls for fake news? Psychological and clinical profiling evidence of fake news consumers. Personality and Individual Differences, 200, 111893.
- Manktelow, N., Chadwick, D.D., Brewster, S. and Tilly, L. (2023). The perspectives of people with intellectual disabilities on their experience of voting in UK general elections. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 36(3), 629-640.
- Martin, P., Thorpe, P., Ware, J., Goldbart, J., Denovan, A., Dagnall, N., and Bradshaw, J. (2025). Academic progress in learners with profound intellectual disabilities: analysis of a Routes for Learning dataset. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 1-18.
- Mcilroy, D., Todd, V., Coleman, J., Kien, S. and Merced, I. (2025). Academic Impostor Syndrome in Students and Academic Staff: Navigating the pathway to Confidence and Control. In M. A. Doolan & L. Ritchie (eds) Transforming Teaching Excellence: Future Proofing Education for All. Leading Global Excellence in Pedagogy Book 3. (pp. 182-197). INTF Publishing. ISBN: 978-1-7393772-2-9.
- Mojtahedi, D., Dagnall, N., Denovan, A., Clough, P., Dewhurst, S., Hillier, M., ... and Perry, J. (2023). Competition anxiety in combat sports and the importance of mental toughness. Behavioral Sciences, 13(9), 713.
- Normand, C. L., Gustavsson, C., Alfredsson Ågren, K., Heitplatz, V. N., Chadwick, D. D., and Johansson, S. (2024, June). “Mum Helps Me When the Internet Messes Up…” Accessibility of eHealth Services for People with Intellectual Disability. In International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 213-230). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.
- Plouffe, R. A., Kowalski, C. M., Papageorgiou, K. A., Dinić, B. M., Artamonova, E., Dagnall, N., ... and Stalikas, A. (2023). The revised assessment of sadistic personality (ASP-8): evidence for validity across four countries. Journal of Personality Assessment, 105(2), 149-162.
- Todd, V., and Mcilroy, D. (2025). Construction and initial validation of an academic impostor syndrome measure. Current Psychology, 44: 4498-4510.
- Ware, J., Buell, S., Chadwick, D. D., Bradshaw, J., and Goldbart, J. (2024). A systematic review of research on staff training as an intervention to develop communication in children and adults with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 37(2), e13201.
- Wheatley, C., Batey, M., Denovan, A., and Dagnall, N. (2023). Mental toughness in the Football Association Women’s Super League: Relationships with playing experience, perceptions of club infrastructure, support mechanisms and self-esteem. Plos one, 18(5), e0285594.
Current externally funded projects
- Evaluation and implementation of a health-promoting digital intervention for young people with intellectual disabilities – enabling evidence-based preventive work within social services. Forte, Sweden.
- A mixed-methods investigation into the use of online peer support by people who experience gambling harms. GambleAware.
- Our Digital Health - Digital Health Participation of People with Intellectual Disabilities: A Co-creation Longitudinal Modelling and Digital Diary Study. NIHR HS&DR Programme.
- IncludeAge: Inclusion of diverse older people in community and public places and virtual spaces.
Collaborations
- University of Dundee, UK
- Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
- University of Kent, UK
- University of Birmingham, UK
- Linköping University, Sweden
- Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
- Radboud University, Netherlands
- University of Aberystwyth, Wales
- Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR), Spain
- Western New Mexico University
- Northern Arizona University
- Irvine Valley College/University of Arizona
- Queen's University Belfast, UK
- Northumbria University, UK
- Comillas Pontifical University Madrid, Spain
- University of Novi Sad, Serbia
- FernUniversität in Hagen, Germany
- University of Western Ontario, Canada
- Claremont Graduate University, USA
Teaching and learning
The members of the group contribute to various module on the MSc Positive Psychology and Wellbeing, MSc Health Psychology, MSc Forensic and Investigative Psychology and BSc Psychology programmes.
