diff --git a/components/com_contact/views/categories/tmpl/default.php b/components/com_contact/views/categories/tmpl/default.php
index e7f142d56cdc4..c4ea30febd6ed 100644
--- a/components/com_contact/views/categories/tmpl/default.php
+++ b/components/com_contact/views/categories/tmpl/default.php
@@ -12,8 +12,18 @@
 JHtml::addIncludePath(JPATH_COMPONENT . '/helpers');
 JHtml::_('behavior.caption');
 
-echo JLayoutHelper::render('joomla.content.categories_default', $this);
+JFactory::getDocument()->addScriptDeclaration("
+jQuery(function($) {
+	$('.categories-list').find('[id^=category-btn-]').each(function(index, btn) {
+		var btn = $(btn);
+		btn.on('click', function() {
+			btn.find('span').toggleClass('icon-plus');
+			btn.find('span').toggleClass('icon-minus');
+		});
+	});
+});");
 
+echo JLayoutHelper::render('joomla.content.categories_default', $this);
 echo $this->loadTemplate('items');
 ?>
 </div>
diff --git a/components/com_contact/views/categories/tmpl/default_items.php b/components/com_contact/views/categories/tmpl/default_items.php
index 18f0126132719..ac09bba3e3085 100644
--- a/components/com_contact/views/categories/tmpl/default_items.php
+++ b/components/com_contact/views/categories/tmpl/default_items.php
@@ -33,7 +33,8 @@
 						</span>
 					<?php endif; ?>
 					<?php if (count($item->getChildren()) > 0 && $this->maxLevelcat > 1) : ?>
-						<a href="#category-<?php echo $item->id;?>" data-toggle="collapse" data-toggle="button" class="btn btn-mini pull-right"><span class="icon-plus"></span></a>
+						<a id="category-btn-<?php echo $item->id;?>" href="#category-<?php echo $item->id;?>" 
+							data-toggle="collapse" data-toggle="button" class="btn btn-mini pull-right"><span class="icon-plus"></span></a>
 					<?php endif;?>
 				</h3>
 				<?php if ($this->params->get('show_subcat_desc_cat') == 1) :?>
diff --git a/components/com_content/views/categories/tmpl/default.php b/components/com_content/views/categories/tmpl/default.php
index 7595354a3a80c..dd79899114ad6 100644
--- a/components/com_content/views/categories/tmpl/default.php
+++ b/components/com_content/views/categories/tmpl/default.php
@@ -11,6 +11,18 @@
 
 JHtml::addIncludePath(JPATH_COMPONENT . '/helpers');
 JHtml::_('behavior.caption');
+
+JFactory::getDocument()->addScriptDeclaration("
+jQuery(function($) {
+	$('.categories-list').find('[id^=category-btn-]').each(function(index, btn) {
+		var btn = $(btn);
+		btn.on('click', function() {
+			btn.find('span').toggleClass('icon-plus');
+			btn.find('span').toggleClass('icon-minus');
+		});
+	});
+});");
+
 echo JLayoutHelper::render('joomla.content.categories_default', $this);
 echo $this->loadTemplate('items');
 ?>
diff --git a/components/com_content/views/categories/tmpl/default_items.php b/components/com_content/views/categories/tmpl/default_items.php
index 3ce2519869fed..f7e4c91c1f019 100644
--- a/components/com_content/views/categories/tmpl/default_items.php
+++ b/components/com_content/views/categories/tmpl/default_items.php
@@ -34,7 +34,8 @@
 					</span>
 				<?php endif; ?>
 				<?php if (count($item->getChildren()) > 0 && $this->maxLevelcat > 1) : ?>
-					<a href="#category-<?php echo $item->id;?>" data-toggle="collapse" data-toggle="button" class="btn btn-mini pull-right"><span class="icon-plus"></span></a>
+					<a id="category-btn-<?php echo $item->id;?>" href="#category-<?php echo $item->id;?>" 
+						data-toggle="collapse" data-toggle="button" class="btn btn-mini pull-right"><span class="icon-plus"></span></a>
 				<?php endif;?>
 			</h3>
 			<?php if ($this->params->get('show_description_image') && $item->getParams()->get('image')) : ?>
diff --git a/components/com_newsfeeds/views/categories/tmpl/default.php b/components/com_newsfeeds/views/categories/tmpl/default.php
index d1e95b8889b68..6e504e788f61e 100644
--- a/components/com_newsfeeds/views/categories/tmpl/default.php
+++ b/components/com_newsfeeds/views/categories/tmpl/default.php
@@ -11,6 +11,18 @@
 
 JHtml::addIncludePath(JPATH_COMPONENT . '/helpers');
 JHtml::_('behavior.caption');
+
+JFactory::getDocument()->addScriptDeclaration("
+jQuery(function($) {
+	$('.categories-list').find('[id^=category-btn-]').each(function(index, btn) {
+		var btn = $(btn);
+		btn.on('click', function() {
+			btn.find('span').toggleClass('icon-plus');
+			btn.find('span').toggleClass('icon-minus');
+		});
+	});
+});");
+
 echo JLayoutHelper::render('joomla.content.categories_default', $this);
 echo $this->loadTemplate('items');
 ?>
diff --git a/components/com_newsfeeds/views/categories/tmpl/default_items.php b/components/com_newsfeeds/views/categories/tmpl/default_items.php
index c4800a2367cf0..217192b50b3b0 100644
--- a/components/com_newsfeeds/views/categories/tmpl/default_items.php
+++ b/components/com_newsfeeds/views/categories/tmpl/default_items.php
@@ -33,7 +33,8 @@
 						</span>
 					<?php endif; ?>
 					<?php if (count($item->getChildren()) > 0 && $this->maxLevelcat > 1) : ?>
-						<a href="#category-<?php echo $item->id;?>" data-toggle="collapse" data-toggle="button" class="btn btn-mini pull-right"><span class="icon-plus"></span></a>
+						<a id="category-btn-<?php echo $item->id;?>" href="#category-<?php echo $item->id;?>" 
+							data-toggle="collapse" data-toggle="button" class="btn btn-mini pull-right"><span class="icon-plus"></span></a>
 					<?php endif;?>
 				</h3>
 				<?php if ($this->params->get('show_subcat_desc_cat') == 1) :?>
diff --git a/libraries/legacy/view/categories.php b/libraries/legacy/view/categories.php
index caeef9ddb750e..d5c659773c10d 100644
--- a/libraries/legacy/view/categories.php
+++ b/libraries/legacy/view/categories.php
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ public function display($tpl = null)
 		// Escape strings for HTML output
 		$this->pageclass_sfx = htmlspecialchars($params->get('pageclass_sfx'));
 
-		$this->maxLevelcat = $params->get('maxLevelcat', -1);
+		$this->maxLevelcat = $params->get('maxLevelcat', -1) < 0 ? PHP_INT_MAX : $params->get('maxLevelcat', PHP_INT_MAX);
 		$this->params      = &$params;
 		$this->parent      = &$parent;
 		$this->items       = &$items;