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Gender differences in dream recall
Abstract
Examined the effect of gender on dream recall. 480 males (mean age 37.7 yrs) and 242 females (35.9 yrs) completed a sleep questionnaire (R. Görtelmeyer, 1986) measuring sleep pattern, sleep quality, presleep mood, and dream frequency recall during the previous 2 wks. Results show that females tended to rate their sleep quality and their feeling of being refreshed in the morning lower than did males. Females also reported awakening more at night and lower presleep emotional balance, but no differences in tiredness. Females scored higher on dream recall; however, engagement in dreams, an item in which females also scored markedly higher, nearly completely explained the gender difference concerning dream recall. Findings suggest that the gender specific pattern in factors connected with dream recall frequency may be explained by the different levels of dream recall. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
... The first trait factor that was found to be related to dream sharing was gender: Women tend to share dreams more often than men (Curci & Rime, 2008;Keßels, 2004;Pagel & Vann, 1992;Schredl & Pallmer, 1998;Szmigielska & Holda, 2007). Since dream recall frequency and nightmare frequency have also showed stable gender differences with women reporting higher dream recall and more nightmares than men (Schredl & Reinhard, 2008, 2011, it was investigated whether the gender difference in dream sharing might be explained by the gender difference in dream recall. Two studies (Schredl, 2009;Schredl & Schawinski, 2010) found that gender was still significant if dream recall frequency and nightmare frequency were statistically controlled-clearly indicating that non-dream related factors, for example, increased willingness to share personal experiences (Dindia & Allen, 1992) might be of importance. ...
... The finding that women reported dreams more often than men is in line with the meta-analysis of Schredl and Reinhard (2008) and, thus, supports the validity of the present findings. Also, the correlation found between openness to experience and dream recall has been reported before (Schredl et al., 2003) whereas, for the four other dimensions of the Big five personality model, correlations to dream recall frequency-as in the present sample-were not found (Schredl, 2007). ...
... The larger effect sizes of the gender difference regarding dream sharing compared with effect sizes of the gender difference in dream recall have been reported previously (Georgi et al., 2012;Schredl & Schawinski, 2010). This lends support to the hypothesis that there is a gender-specific dream socialization (how children/adolescents learn their attitudes about dreaming)-a hypothesis put forward by Schredl and Reinhard (2008). ...
Although dreams are very private experiences, they are often shared with others. The findings of the present study (N = 1,375) indicate that sharing dreams is indeed very common and that dream sharing frequency is related to gender (only in adolescents, with girls sharing dreams more often than boys), extraversion, dream recall frequency, and nightmare frequency. Future studies should study the dream sharing process in more detail—with whom dreams are shared—and possible beneficial effects of dream sharing.
... To date, only two studies ( Schredl, 2000;Schredl, 2002Schredl, -2003 have investigated the direct effect of possible explanatory factors on the gender difference in dream recall by applying statistical methods such as regression analyses and partial correlations. Schredl (2000) was not able to find a significant reduction in the gender difference in dream recall by introducing variables such as sleep quality, tiredness, emotional balance in the evening, and frequency of nocturnal awakening (questionnaire measure) into the regression analysis. When engagement in dreams, ...
... To date, only two studies ( Schredl, 2000;Schredl, 2002Schredl, -2003 have investigated the direct effect of possible explanatory factors on the gender difference in dream recall by applying statistical methods such as regression analyses and partial correlations. Schredl (2000) was not able to find a significant reduction in the gender difference in dream recall by introducing variables such as sleep quality, tiredness, emotional balance in the evening, and frequency of nocturnal awakening (questionnaire measure) into the regression analysis. ...
... To date, only two studies ( Schredl, 2000;Schredl, 2002Schredl, -2003 have investigated the direct effect of possible explanatory factors on the gender difference in dream recall by applying statistical methods such as regression analyses and partial correlations. Schredl (2000) was not able to find a significant reduction in the gender difference in dream recall by introducing variables such as sleep quality, tiredness, emotional balance in the evening, and frequency of nocturnal awakening (questionnaire measure) into the regression analysis. When engagement in dreams, which showed a marked gender difference itself (d 0.71, N 722), was additionally included, the gender difference was no longer significant. ...
The results of the present study confirmed earlier findings of heightened dream recall frequency in women. The variables “meaningfulness of dreams” and “occurrence of problem-solving dreams” significantly reduced the correlation coefficient between gender and dream recall frequency. However, the question of causality remains unsolved. Other variables such as emotional intensity of dreams or nightmare frequency did not affect the relationship between gender and dream recall in a substantial way. Future research should manipulate systematically the variables under consideration, e.g., attitude toward dreams in order to observe the effects of this procedure on dream recall frequency and focus on the development of the gender difference during childhood and adolescence in relation to the child's understanding of the dream phenomenon.
... Two studies (Schredl, 2000;Schredl, 2002) have selected variables with well-documented gender differences and equally well-documented relationships to dream recall frequency. Although the estimated meaningfulness of dreams and the occurrence of problem-solving dreams had an effect on the gender-dream recall relationship (a significant reduction of the correlation coefficient by partialing out these variables), the gender difference in dream recall frequency was still significant (Schredl, 2002. ...
... That is, these variables were not able to fully explain the gender difference in dream recall frequency. In a second study, the gender effect was not affected by including sleep variables (e.g., subjective sleep quality, number of nocturnal awakenings; for gender differences in these variables see, e.g., Zhang & Wing, 2006), but it was affected by entering a variable that took into account how often persons thought about their dreams during the day ( Schredl, 2000). ...
... Although several studies (Domino, 1982;Robbins & Tanck, 1988;Schredl, Nü rnberg, & Weiler, 1996;Schredl, 2000Schredl, , 2004) reported a significant gender effect regarding the gender difference in the interest in dreams, the generalizability of these studies is limited because mainly students were recruited as participants. The present study in which a representative sample of the German population was studied fills this gap. ...
Although several studies reported a significant effect with regard to the gender difference in an interest in dreams, the generalizability of these studies is limited because mainly students were recruited as participants. In this study, gender differences with regard to interest in dream interpretation as an indicator of interest in dreams in general have been demonstrated in a representative sample. There was, however, a significant age-gender interaction, indicating that interest in dreams might not be a potent variable for explaining gender differences in dream recall. In future studies, the course of interest in dreams over the life span and any associated gender differences should be investigated using carefully designed scales. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
... To date, only two studies (Schredl, 2000, 2002–03) ...
... In addition to these two studies (Schredl, 2000, 2002–03), it would be interesting to study the effect of the above-listed factors such as verbal intelligence, verbal memory, recall of emotional experience and frequency of talking about emotional matters on the gender difference in dream recall by applying suitable statistical methods such as those reported above. ...
... Possible factors have to meet two criteria: first, they should show a stable gender difference and, secondly, they should correlate substantially with DRF. With regard to the first criteria, there are a variety of factors which might be related to dream recall and show stable gender differences like verbal intelligence (Halpern, 2000; Hyde and Linn, 1988), verbal memory (Chipman and Kimura, 1998), frequency of talking about emotional matters (Kring and Gordon, 1998), recall of emotional experiences (Seidlitz and Diener, 1998), sleep quality (Schredl et al., 1998b), prevalence of insomnia (Zhang and Wing, 2006) and interest in dreams (Schredl, 2000 ). Most of these studies showed small-tomoderate effect sizes indicating that women do better in verbal intelligence and verbal memory talks, talk more often about emotional matters and showed higher recall of emotional experiences. ...
Many studies have reported gender differences in dream recall. Data from 175 independent studies have been included in the analyses. Overall, estimated effect sizes in five age groups of healthy persons differed significantly from zero. Variables like measurement method and publication year did not affect the gender difference but age groups showed different effect sizes. The smallest effect size was found for children (0.097), the largest for adolescents (0.364), whereas the three adult groups ranged from 0.242 to 0.270. The findings suggest that the age-dependent gender differences in dream recall might be explained by gender-specific 'dream socialization'. Longitudinal studies in this area, however, are still lacking.
... The previous study to this (Luke et al., 2012) also found that dream recall length was significantly higher at 8am compared to 3am, although there was no correlation between psi score and recall. Dream recall is also positively related to the boundary thinness and openness to experience personality variables, and beyond age ten is more pronounced in females than males (Schredl & Reinhard, 2008). Self-report spontaneous precognitive dreams also correlate positively with boundary thinness and, to a lesser extent, openness to experience, although this appears to be mostly due to their relationship to dream recall, particularly for openness to experience (Schredl, 2009). ...
... Selected from a pool of volunteers on a parapsychology course at the University of Greenwich, 20 participants (18 female, 2 male; age range 20-35, mean age 23.4) were recruited. The imbalanced gender ratio represents the actual ratio of the psychology student body at this institution, and in any case, beyond childhood, females consistently recall more dreams than males (Schredl & Reinhard, 2008), which is advantageous in this study. Volunteers who responded to an advert for a dream-psi study were offered £160 for completion of the study, including training. ...
Research and theory suggests that the chemicals made in the pineal gland (e.g., melatonin, pinoline, and possibly DMT) follow a circadian rhythm and are important in the processes of sleeping, and possibly dreaming too. These nocturnal chemicals may also be important in the mediation of spontaneous mystical and visionary states and in the mediation of psi (e.g., precognition or telepathy). One such pineal chemical, melatonin, is known to fluctuate in quantity considerably during the night. Nevertheless very little research has been conducted to test whether peak melatonin periods (e.g., 3am) are more conducive to psi than lower melatonin periods (e.g., 8am), although the two studies that have been conducted have found positive effects (Luke et al., 2012; Satyanarayana, Rao & Vijayalakshmi, 1993). The present study tested for dream precognition among 20 individual participants on ten separate nights each, with trials both during the night and first thing in the morning. A free-response dream precognition task was used, with participants viewing four clips after dreaming and ranking them for similarity to the dream. After ranking, the actuall target was selected randomly by computer. Dream precognition scores were above chance, and scores were better at 3am compared to 8am, however these findings were non-significant. Dream bizarreness, supposedly mediated by melatonin, was actually higher at 8am than at 3am, though again, non-significant, however some individual differences were found that were tentatively interpreted as indicating the necessity for recruiting motivated participants, especially when recruiting from an undergraduate student population, because issues of maturity, belief and attentiveness appear important. Directions for future research are discussed.
... Despite the large number of studies looking at gender differences in relation to dreams, research addressing possible explanatory factors is rather scarce. Three studies (Schredl, 2000(Schredl, , 2002(Schredl, -2003(Schredl, , 2010a were able to demonstrate that attitude toward dreams or related concepts partly explained the gender difference in dream recall frequency. Another likely candidate for explaining gender differences in dreaming is sex role orientation, that is, femininity should be correlated positively with dream recall frequency, for example, whereas masculinity should show reversed patterns. ...
... In addition to replicate the previous findings on the effect of sex role orientation on dream recall frequency and nightmare frequency, the present study was designed to investigate whether similar effects of sex role orientation on other dream variables such as general estimates of dream emotionality, interest in dreams, and attitude toward dreams can be demonstrated. Because previous studies demonstrated that gender differences in attitude toward dreams moderate the gender difference in dream recall frequency (Schredl, 2000(Schredl, , 2002(Schredl, -2003(Schredl, , 2010a, the moderating effect of attitude toward dreams on the relationship between dream recall frequency, biological sex and gender was studied. It was predicted that the effects of sex role orientation and biological sex were no longer significant if the analysis regarding dream recall frequency is controlled for attitude toward dreams. ...
Despite the large number of studies addressing gender differences in dream recall and other dream-related variables, research regarding whether these differences might be affected by sex role orientation is rather scarce. The findings of the present online study clearly indicate that sex role orientation, femininity/expressivity, and masculinity/instrumentality affects dream variables such as dream recall frequency, nightmare frequency, dream tone, and emotional intensity as well as attitude toward dreaming. Expressivity was strongly correlated with the emotional intensity of dreams whereas instrumentality was associated with more positively toned dreams; a finding which supports the continuity hypothesis of dreaming. The analyses provided support for the idea that attitude toward dreams might moderate the effect of sex role orientation (femininity/expressivity) and biological sex on dream recall frequency. As sex role orientation did not completely explain the gender differences, it will be fruitful to study other variables like the processing of emotional information in the brain or gender-specific dream socialization in order to understand the gender differences in dreaming more fully. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)
... Der gefundene Geschlechtsunterschied steht im Ein- klang mit fru Èheren Studien [3,6,13], so dass dies im Sinne der Validita Èt der Skala als positiv zu bewerten ist. Nur in der a Èltesten Gruppe war kein Unterschied nachzuweisen; ein Ergebnis, das auch von Giambra, Jung und Grodsky [6] berichtet wurde. ...
... Auch die Abnahme der Traumerinnerung mit dem Alter wurde ha Èufig in der Literatur berichtet [6,13,22]. Aller- dings sollte von den Befunden der Querschnittsuntersu- chungen nicht auf den Verlauf der Traumerinnerung ge- schlossen werden. Eine longitudinale Studie [6] u Èber einen Zeitraum von 6 bis 8 Jahren ergab eine kaum messbare Vera Ènderung der Traumerinnerung. ...
Introduction
The present paper introduces the three most common methods for measuring dream recall: laboratory awakenings, dream diaries and questionnaire scales. An easy applicable seven-point scale, its retest reliability and validity analyses will be presented.
Patients and Methods
Within several studies, 941 healthy persons rated their dream recall frequency using the scale. The retest sample (70 days retest interval) consisted of 42 patients with sleep disorders.
Results
The data of the healthy persons replicated the previous significant findings of gender differences (women tend to recall their dreams more often than men) and the decline of dream recall frequency with age. Retest relibility was high.
Conclusions
The introduced scale is well qualified for measuring interindividual differences and permits—by breaking down of the data into four age groups—comparisons with samples stemming from different settings, e. g. patient groups.
... Women are frequently found to report having more vivid dreams and dreams that involve more positive emotions than men (see Domhoff, 1996, for a review). From adolescence through adulthood, girls and women report dreaming more frequently than boys and men (e.g., Schredl, 2000;Schredl & Reinhard, 2008). Girls and women also describe their dreams in greater detail and express more interest in dreams and dream interpretation than their male counterparts (Avila-White, Schneider, & Domhoff, 1999;Schredl, 2000;Schredl & Piel, 2008). ...
... From adolescence through adulthood, girls and women report dreaming more frequently than boys and men (e.g., Schredl, 2000;Schredl & Reinhard, 2008). Girls and women also describe their dreams in greater detail and express more interest in dreams and dream interpretation than their male counterparts (Avila-White, Schneider, & Domhoff, 1999;Schredl, 2000;Schredl & Piel, 2008). Taken together these findings suggest that women may be particularly likely to be aware of when they are dreaming and interested in what takes place in their dreams. ...
Previous research (Woolley & Boerger, 2002) indicated that many young adults, especially women, believe in the possibility of controlling dreams. This lay perspective contrasts with philosophical descriptions of dreams as passive, undirected mental activity (e.g., Flanagan, 2000; Hobson, 2002). The present study sought to replicate Woolley and Boerger’s (2002) findings and to explore relations among gender, dream experiences, dream beliefs, and boundary structure. One hundred sixty-five undergraduates (68 women) completed Woolley and Boerger’s Control of Dreams Questionnaire and Dream Experiences Interview; Hartmann’s (1991) Boundary Questionnaire (BQ), and 17 items from the Transliminality Scale (Lange, Thalbourne & Houran, & Storm, 2000). Ninety-four percent reported attempting to control their own dreams; 70% claimed at least 1 success, and 80% claimed that others could control dreams in some circumstances. Women reported a higher success rate than men and made more claims that others could control dreams. BQ scores predicted participants’ own attempts at control, whereas both Transliminality scores and gender predicted the number of claims made that others could control dreams. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
... Schredl, Schenck, Go¨rtelmeyerGo¨rtelmeyer, & Heuser, 1998) might be taken into consideration. In an exploratory analysis, Schredl (2000) has found that controlling statistically for sleep variables and indicators of day-time stress showed only a minor effect on the magnitude of the gender difference in dream recall. However, the ''engagement in dreams'' variable reduced markedly the gender difference. ...
... telling dreams, thinking about the meaning of dreams, might be responsible for the gender difference in dream recall. Although several studies (Domino, 1982;Schredl, Nu¨rnbergNu¨rnberg, & Weiler, 1996;Schredl, 2000) have demonstrated marked gender differences regarding these measures, large-scaled representative studies investigating this topic are lacking. ...
The review of the relevant literature indicates that women tend to recall their dreams more often than men. However, the results of the two studies carried out in representative samples conflict with each other, i.e. one study did not find a substantial gender difference in dream recall. The present study included four representative German samples and confirmed earlier findings of significant gender differences in dream recall. These differences were not modulated by age or cohort effects. Despite the consistency of this finding, the factors underlying the gender difference in dream recall are still poorly understood.
... Beyond these general findings, however, the current state of research cannot inform us as to people's varying dream-related beliefs or about the role these beliefs might play in their lives, except for the fact that women tend to have a generally more positive attitude towards dreams than men (e.g. Robbins & Tanck, 1988; Schredl, 2000; The goal of the present study was to develop a questionnaire, the Inventory of Dream Experiences & Attitudes (IDEA), to assess a wide range of beliefs and attitudes people may have about their dreams (i.e. their cognitive representations of the dream experience), and to investigate how these beliefs relate to gender and to a range of waking state variables. ...
... How and when such beliefs impact sessions of dream work (e.g., Davis, 2003; Hill, 2004) and what kind of parallels exist between this dimension and other forms of beliefs in the paranormal (e.g. Irwin, 1993 This pattern is consistent with women's greater level of interest in dreams as reported in previous studies (e.g., Robbins & Tanck 1988; Schredl, 2000; Beyond proposing three qualitatively distinct and prototypical ways of describing people's relation to dreaming, this classification is also of interest as it may help explain variations in people's recall of nightmares as well as in their scores on measure of personality and well-being. The causal or associative mechanisms underlying these differences could not be uncovered via this study but the findings are rather striking and suggest at least three interesting venues for research. ...
L'accord des co-auteurs est inclus dans le mémoire L’objectif était de développer un questionnaire (IDEA) afin de capter les attitudes envers les rêves et d’évaluer leurs relations avec des variables externes ainsi que le rôle qu’elles représentent dans la vie des gens. 725 participants ont complété l’IDEA et parmi ceux-ci 357 ont aussi complété des questionnaires concernant le rêve, la personnalité et le bien-être ainsi qu’un journal de rêve. Dans le premier article, une analyse factorielle de l’IDEA a dégagé 7 dimensions d’intérêt. Les individus ont été classifiés selon trois profils distincts de rêveur montrant des relations différentielles aux mesures de personnalité et de bien-être. Dans le second article, les résultats ont montré que les individus qui rapportent beaucoup de rêves, une détresse psychologique, des frontières fluides ou une capacité d’absorption croient que leurs rêves possèdent un sens. L’IDEA est un instrument utile pour la recherche et montrent que les croyances oniriques ont un rôle psychologique important. Our goals were to develop a questionnaire (the IDEA) to assess dream-related beliefs, to investigate the relations between these beliefs and waking-state variables as well as the roles they may play in peoples’ lives. In the first article, 725 participants completed the IDEA and 357 participants also completed a dream log and questionnaires on dreams, personality, and well-being. A factor analysis of the IDEA revealed 7 dimensions. Using these dimensions, individuals were classified into three distinct profiles which showed differential relations to measures of personality and well-being. In the second article, people with high dream recall, psychological distress, thin boundaries and an elevated capacity for absorption, were found to be the most likely to believe that their dream experiences are meaningful. The findings indicate that the IDEA is a useful instrument for researchers and those dream-related beliefs can play important psychological roles in people’s lives.
... In light of these observations, the assumption that the presence/ absence and the phenomenological aspects of dream experiences strictly depend on the sleep stage per se is simplistic. It is worth noting that a precise definition of the time-coupling between the sleep stages and the actual occurrence of dream experience is difficult, as the access to sleep mentation is possible only in an indirect way through dream reports after the awakening (see the paragraph "What (Schredl & Reinhard, 2008;Settineri et al., 2019) and age Scarpelli et al., 2019a) can predict dream recall. Interest in dreams (Bealulieu-Prevost & Zadra, 2007), visual imagery abilities (Cory & Ormiston, 1975), personality dimensions like openness to experience, absorption, psychological boundaries (Beaulieu-Prevost & Zadra, 2007), and predisposition to suppress negative emotions and thoughts (Malinowski, 2015) appear related to individual differences in the oneiric activity. ...
Though better knowledge concerning alexithymia in childhood could improve understanding of its development during the lifespan, it has been scarcely investigated in children. A necessary step in research on alexithymia is to create instruments for assessing the construct. The object of the present study was to develop an Italian Alexithymia Questionnaire for Children based on the instrument proposed by Rieffe et al. (2006) and to examine its factor structure and reliability. The English version of the questionnaire was translated into Italian and it was administered to 576 children recruited from primary and secondary schools (age mean = 10.78, s.d. = 1.67; males 357 and 219 females). Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) revealed preliminary evidence of a four-factor structure, which explained 37.90% of the variance: Factor 1 "Difficulty Describing Feelings", Factor 2 "Difficulty Identifying Feelings", Factor 3 "Confusion on Physical Sensations" and Factor 4 "Externally-Oriented Thinking". As to reliability, the Cronbach alpha indicated adequate internal consistency. Pearson correlations among the total score and the four factors were statistically significant. Moreover, the sample was divided into two groups (children and pre-adolescents) and a ttest was conducted: children showed significantly higher scores than adolescents on the total score of the questionnaire. No significant gender differences in mean total scores were found.
Key words: alexithymia, childhood, questionnaire, Italian version
Parole chiave: alessitimia, etŕ evolutiva, questionario, versione italiana
... The same age effect of attitude towards dreams has been shown in the present study but it does not explain the entire age effect because the influence of age is still significant when attitude towards dreams is used as an additional confounding variable. This study showed women to have in general a higher dream recall frequency which matches earlier findings (Schredl & Reinhard, 2008). Men had a higher creative dream and problem solving dream frequency. ...
... Dement und Kleitman (1957) (Brand et al., 2011;Schredl, 2010c;Schredl & Piel, 2008 (Schredl, 2007;Schredl, Buscher, Haaß, Scheuermann, & Uhrig, 2015). Allerdings fehlen für Überprüfung der geschlechterspezifischen "Traumsozialisation" longitudinale Studien die in der frühen Kindheit beginnen (Schredl & Reinhard, 2008). Das Alter nimmt auf den Traumprozess offenbar ebenfalls Einfluss, da mehrere Studien eine Abnahme der Traumerinnerungshäufigkeit mit zunehmendem Alter feststellten (Giambra, Jung, & Grodsky, 1996;Schredl & Piel, 2003;Stepansky et al., 1998). ...
Die vorliegende Studie verglich 447 Patienten (318 mit Restless Legs Syndrom (RLS); 129 mit Periodic Limb Movement Disorder (PLMD)) mit 208 gesunden Kontrollen bezüglich Schlafverhalten, Traumerinnerungshäufigkeit, Traumgefühlen und Trauminhalt. Die Patientengruppe zeigte in allen Parametern, die zur Evaluierung des Schlafes benutzt wurden, signifikant schlechtere Ergebnisse. Diese Erkenntnis ist stimmig mit bisher veröffentlichten Studien, die den Einfluss des Restless Legs Syndrom auf den Schlaf untersucht haben. Bezüglich der Traumerinnerungshäufigkeit konnten, trotz signifikant häufigerem nächtlichem Erwachen unter RLS/PLMD, keine Unterschiede zwischen Patientengruppe und gesunden Kontrollen ermittelt werden. Diese Erkenntnis stellt das Arousal-RetrievalModell, das häufigeres nächtliches Erwachen mit erhöhter Traumerinnerungshäufigkeit verknüpft, zumindest für die Schlafstörungen RLS und PLMD in Frage. Dieses Ergebnis bestätigt die Resultate vorrausgegangener Studien, die für Patienten mit dem Restless Legs Syndrom ebenfalls keine erhöhte Traumerinnerungshäufigkeit finden konnten. Eine Untersuchung der Traumerinnerungshäufigkeit mit Weckungen während der Rapid-Eye-MovementPhasen (REM) könnte möglicherweise andere Ergebnisse erbringen und bedarf somit weiterer Untersuchungen. Die Traumgefühle der Patientengruppe fielen in der externen Einschätzung weniger positiv und in der Selbsteinschätzung signifikant negativer aus. Auch Alpträume, die signifikant mit der RLS/PLMD-bezogenen Belastung assoziiert waren, kamen in der Patientengruppe häufiger vor. Diese Ergebnisse sind möglicherweise die Folge der unangenehmen Empfindungen des RLS, des beeinträchtigten Schlafes und der daraus resultierenden psychischen Belastung der beiden Krankheitsbilder. Demnach finden sich die Beschwerden des Tages während des Schlafes im Traumerleben wieder und würden die Kontinuitätshypothese bekräftigen. Der Trauminhalt wird von RLS/PLMD nach den Erkenntnissen dieser Arbeit nur geringfügig beeinflusst. Bei Auswertung des Trauminhaltes mithilfe eines Traummanuals konnte gezeigt werden, dass die Patientengruppe signifikant häufiger von Problemen träumte, was unter Berücksichtigung des krankheitsbedingten Leidensdrucks, mit der Zusammenfassung 87 Kontinuitätshypothese vereinbar ist. Bei der Trauminhaltsanalyse bezüglich der Bewegungen von Beinen/Armen bzw. der konkreten Nennung von Bein/Arm konnte meine Hypothese eines häufigeren Auftretens dieser in der Patientengruppe nicht bestätigt werden. Paradoxerweise kamen Bewegungen, die mit Armen assoziiert waren in der RLS/PLMD-Gruppe sogar signifikant seltener vor als in der Kontrollgruppe. Dieser signifikante Unterschied verschwand allerdings bei der Subanalyse, die ausschließlich RLS-Patienten berücksichtigte. Zur weiteren Untersuchung potentieller Unterschiede im Trauminhalt könnten in Zukunft Träume nach REM-Weckungen verglichen werden. Außerdem wäre ein interessanter Ansatz Patienten direkt nach periodischen Beinbewegungen, die für RLS und PLMD charakteristisch sind, zu wecken und zu untersuchen inwiefern diese in den Trauminhalt inkorporiert werden.
... However, Iranian women, more than their male counterparts, believed that dreams carry a message. This pattern has also been obtained in several studies in the United States and Canada (Beaulieu-Prévost, Charneau Simard, & Zadra, 2009;Domino, 1982;Robbins & Tanck, 1988;Schredl, 2000Schredl, , 2003. Perhaps that is why, in previous research, women showed more interest in dreams and dream interpretation (Schredl, & Piel, 2008). ...
Several different beliefs about the importance of dreams have been recorded from ancient times to the present. In ancient Iranian culture, dreams had a special importance. Similarly, in modern times, Iranians pay much attention to their dreams. The present questionnaire study of several beliefs about dreams describes the beliefs of 486 Iranian university students in Tehran (men = 253; women = 233) from the Tarbiat Modares and Allameh Tabatabai University about their dreams through administering of the My Beliefs About Dream Questionnaire (MBDQ). The two main objectives of the research were to examine the psychometric properties of the MBDQ and to describe the dream beliefs of Iranian college students. Factor analysis of the MBDQ yielded a six-factor solution. In general, the present investigation revealed moderate to high construct validity and reliability of the MBDQ. A wide range of variation in dream beliefs was found among Iranian college students, with religious beliefs having much influence upon them.
... Other notable findings from these data were associations between dreams of being smothered (or unable to breathe) with psychological distress, general sleep disturbances, and poor sleep quality. Dreams of searching for a toilet were weakly associated 1 We hypothesized that gender may pose a confound, because women recall more dreams (Schredl and Reinhard, 2008), and report more psychological distress (Al-Issa, 1982), especially internalizing, rather than externalizing, mental health issues (Eaton et al., 2012). Thus, we attempted to control for gender in all analyses using partial correlations. ...
Teeth dreams (TD), i.e., dreams of teeth falling out or rotting, are one of the most common and universal typical dream themes, yet their source remains unknown and they have rarely been studied empirically. They are especially enigmatic as they do not readily fall under the rubric of the “continuity hypothesis”, i.e., dreams of current and salient waking-life experiences. The aim of the present study was to explore two possible hypotheses for the origin of TD; specifically, TD as incorporation of dental irritation into dreaming, and TD as a symbolic manifestation of psychological distress. Dream themes, dental irritation, psychological distress, and sleep quality were assessed among 210 undergraduates. TD were related to dental irritation (specifically, tension sensations in the teeth, gums, or jaws upon awakening), whereas other dream types were not. Conversely, TD were unrelated to psychological distress, whereas other dream types were (specifically, dreams of being smothered and dreams of falling). This disparity in the correlates of TD existed despite a small but significant relationship between psychological distress and dental irritation. Albeit preliminary, the present findings support the dental irritation hypothesis and do not support the symbolic hypothesis regarding the origins of TD. Research on TD portrays one path through which the mind may distort somatosensory stimuli and incorporate them into dreams as a vivid and emotionally-salient image; these preliminary findings highlight the potential of studying TD in order to broaden our understanding of the cognitive mechanisms governing dream production.
... Thus, the fact that the males in our study napped more frequently than females may account for the effect on WMC. Our finding that DCRF was significantly correlated with VSWMC in females is consistent with a previous meta-analysis, which found that females tended to recall their dreams more often than males ( Schredl and Reinhard, 2008). ...
... Unfortunately, there are no representative studies regarding dream recall frequency and nightmare frequency in children and adolescents to compare with the present findings. The observed gender differences in dream recall frequency and nightmare frequency are in line with meta-analyses ( Schredl & Reinhard, 2008, 2011) and, thus, support the validity of the present findings; that is, even if the general level of dream recall is higher, interindividual differences are comparable with those reported in other studies in the field. Furthermore, it also likely that there was a selection bias regarding the amount of reading during leisure time. ...
Nightmares are defined as disturbing mental experiences that generally occur during REM sleep and often result in awakening. The continuity hypothesis of dreaming would predict that media consumption arousing anxious feelings might increase nightmare frequency. Whereas there is some research on the effect of watching TV and playing computer games on dreams, research examining the relationship between reading and nightmares is scarce. The present study carried out in 3,535 children and adolescents showed that the preference for reading scary stories is positively related to nightmare frequency, whereas preferring fiction (novels and stories) is negatively related to nightmare frequency. To determine whether this is a causal effect, future studies should use experimental designs and test whether reading—even though it is not the most commonly used media form—can affect children in a negative way or whether reading specific books offering strategies for coping with nightmares can have beneficial effects on children.
... Thus, the fact that the males in our study napped more frequently than females may account for the effect on WMC. Our finding that DCRF was significantly correlated with VSWMC in females is consistent with a previous meta-analysis, which found that females tended to recall their dreams more often than males ( Schredl and Reinhard, 2008). ...
... Thus, the fact that the males in our study napped more frequently than females may account for the effect on WMC. Our finding that DCRF was significantly correlated with VSWMC in females is consistent with a previous meta-analysis, which found that females tended to recall their dreams more often than males (Schredl and Reinhard, 2008). Our finding that DCRF was associated with VSWMC, but not VWMV, is supported by several lines of evidence. ...
Poor sleep quality negatively affects memory performance, and working memory in particular. We investigated sleep habits related to sleep quality including sleep duration, daytime nap duration, nap frequency, and dream content recall frequency (DCRF). Declarative working memory can be subdivided into verbal working memory (VWM) and visuospatial working memory (VSWM). We hypothesized that sleep habits would have different effects on VWM and VSWM. To our knowledge, our study is the first to investigate differences between VWM and VSWM related to daytime nap duration, nap frequency, and DCRF. Furthermore, we tested the hypothesis that the effects of duration and frequency of daytime naps and DCRF on VWM and VSWM differed according to sex. We assessed 779 healthy right-handed individuals (434 males and 345 females; mean age: 20.7 ± 1.8 years) using a digit span forward and backward VWM task, a forward and backward VSWM task, and sleep habits scales. A correlation analysis was used to test the relationships between VWM capacity (VWMC) and VSWM capacity (VSWMC) scores and sleep duration, nap duration, nap frequency, and DCRF. Furthermore, multiple regression analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with VWMC and VSWMC scores and to identify sex-related differences. We found significant positive correlations between VSWMC and nap duration and DCRF, and between VWMC and sleep duration in all subjects. Furthermore, we found that working memory capacity (WMC) was positively correlated with nap duration in males and with sleep duration in females, and DCRF was positively correlated with VSWMC in females. Our finding of sex-related differences in the effects of sleep habits on WMC has not been reported previously. The associations between WMC and sleep habits differed according to sex because of differences in the underlying neural correlates of VWM and VSWM, and effectiveness of the sleep habits in males and females.
... One approach for shedding light on this topic was to statistically control for possible influencing factors regarding the gender difference in dream recall (Schredl, 2010). The three studies (Schredl, 2000(Schredl, , 2002(Schredl, -2003(Schredl, , 2010) that adopted this approach found that the most important factor was attitude towards dreams; that is, if this variable was statistically controlled, the gender difference in dream recall frequency was drastically reduced. The problem with these findings is that conclusions regarding causality are not possible because high dream recall might instigate a high interest in dreams but it also has been shown that persons who are interested in dream can increase their dream recall frequency by paying more attention to them (Schredl, 2007). ...
Dream socialisation encompasses factors that might affect children's attitudes towards dreams or their dream recall frequencies directly; for example, by being asked about dreams by other persons or the sharing of dreams with others. The present study in 170 children/adolescents (age range 10-15 years) was designed to study whether dream socialisation might help to explain the well-documented gender difference regarding dream recall frequencies and related variables in adolescence and adulthood. Gender-specific effects regarding the frequency of communicating about dreams, especially for same-sex friendships, were found, and the correlation supports the hypothesis that these variables might be of importance to dreaming in later life. In order to corroborate the results of this first quantitative study of dream socialisation in children/adolescents, longitudinal studies as well as experimental studies manipulating dream socialisation variables are necessary.
... 32 Also, our findings of a negative association between age and dream recall frequency and of a higher dream recall frequency in females compared to males are in line with previous studies. [33][34][35][36] The finding of an increased nightmare frequency (also controlled for general dream recall) in narcolepsy patients confirms many previous studies. Generally, narcolepsy patients experience longer, more complex, more negative, and more vivid dream mentation than healthy subjects, 4,6,8,9,37,38 and nightmares are a frequent symptom in narcolepsy. ...
... 32 Also, our findings of a negative association between age and dream recall frequency and of a higher dream recall frequency in females compared to males are in line with previous studies. [33][34][35][36] The finding of an increased nightmare frequency (also controlled for general dream recall) in narcolepsy patients confirms many previous studies. Generally, narcolepsy patients experience longer, more complex, more negative, and more vivid dream mentation than healthy subjects, 4,6,8,9,37,38 and nightmares are a frequent symptom in narcolepsy. ...
Study objective:
Nightmares are a frequent symptom in narcolepsy. Lucid dreaming, i.e., the phenomenon of becoming aware of the dreaming state during dreaming, has been demonstrated to be of therapeutic value for recurrent nightmares. Data on lucid dreaming in narcolepsy patients, however, is sparse. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of recalled dreams (DF), nightmares (NF), and lucid dreams (LDF) in narcolepsy patients compared to healthy controls. In addition, we explored if dream lucidity provides relief during nightmares in narcolepsy patients.
Design:
We interviewed patients with narcolepsy and healthy controls.
Setting:
Telephone interview.
Patients:
60 patients diagnosed with narcolepsy (23-82 years, 35 females) and 919 control subjects (14-93 years, 497 females).
Interventions:
N/A.
Measurements and results:
Logistic regression revealed significant (P < 0.001) differences in DF, NF, and LDF between narcolepsy patients and controls after controlling for age and gender, with effect sizes lying in the large range (Cohen's d > 0.8). The differences in NF and LDF between patients and controls stayed significant after controlling for DF. Comparison of 35 narcolepsy patients currently under medication with their former drug-free period revealed significant differences in DF and NF (z < 0.05, signed-rank test) but not LDF (z = 0.8). Irrespective of medication, 70% of narcolepsy patients with experience in lucid dreaming indicated that dream lucidity provides relief during nightmares.
Conclusion:
Narcolepsy patients experience a markedly higher lucid dreaming frequency compared to controls, and many patients report a positive impact of dream lucidity on the distress experienced from nightmares.
... Así, es alto en estado de ansiedad y en mujeres[20]. En un metaanálisis[26] se concluye que las mujeres suelen recordar los sueños con mayor frecuencia que los hombres, y que las diferencias de género en el recuerdo de los ensueños son menores en la infancia que en la adolescencia.En el recuerdo de un ensueño intervienen dos factores: a) se requiere cierto grado de arousal cortical para transferir la información (el contenido del ensueño) de la memoria a corto plazo a la memoria a largo plazo, es decir, un período de vigilia tras el ensueño, ya que los procesos de almacenamiento no se dan en el sueño; ...
Introduction:
Over the last decade an ever-increasing number of articles have been published on dreams, which reflects the interest that several fields of neuroscience have in the topic. In this work we review the main scientific theories that have contributed to the body of knowledge on how they are produced and what function they serve.
Development:
The article discusses the evolution of their scientific study, following a neurophysiological and neurocognitive approach. The first of these two methods seeks to determine the neurobiological mechanisms that generate them and the brain structures involved, while the second considers dreams to be a kind of cognition interacting with that of wake-fulness. Several different hypotheses about the function of dreams are examined, and more particularly those in which they are attributed with a role in the consolidation of memory and the regulation of emotional states.
Conclusions:
Although the exact mechanism underlying the generation of dreams has not been determined, neurobiological data highlight the importance of the pontine nuclei of the brainstem, several memory systems, the limbic system and the brain reward system and a number of neocortical areas. Neurocognitive data underline the relation between the cognitive and emotional processing that occurs during wakefulness and during sleep, as well as the influence of the surroundings on the content of dreams. With regard to their function, one point to be stressed is their adaptive value, since they contribute to the reprocessing of the information acquired in wakefulness and the control of the emotions. This suggests that dreams participate in the development of the cognitive capabilities.
... For example, Schredl (2004b) found an effect size of d ϭ 0.64, which is considerably larger than the average gender difference of d ϭ 0.242 in young adults reported in the meta-analysis of Schredl and Reinhard (2008). These findings indicate that the different aspects subsumed under the attitude toward dreams should be studied in a more detailed way to learn more about the relationship between trait factors and dream recall frequency itself: For example, Schredl (2000) reported that the gender difference in dream recall frequency was "explained" by the variable measuring the engagement of dreams using a regression analysis for statistically controlling this variable. Moreover, Beaulieu-Prévost and Zadra (2007) showed that attitude toward dreams modulates the relationship between personality dimensions and dream recall frequency, especially if dream recall frequency is measured retrospectively. ...
Attitude toward dreams is a variable closely linked to dream recall frequency. Even though research has looked into different aspects of this variable, studies investigating positive and negative attitudes in the general population are still lacking. The present representative survey (N = 2,019) indicates that the general emotional tone of dreams is quite closely related to the attitude toward dreams—a relationship neglected by previous studies. It seems very important to differentiate between positive and negative attitudes toward dreaming, and it also seems very important to differentiate between attitudes toward positively toned and negatively toned dreams. In order to understand the underlying mechanisms of the stable gender difference, for example, it seems promising to study of dream socialization—that is, the process of how children learn about attitudes toward dreaming from other people (family, friends) or media. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)
... The more pronounced differences regarding the engagement in dreams (items 18 and 22) confirm earlier findings that "engagement in dreams" showed a larger gender difference (effect size: d=0.71) than dream recall frequency (d=0.49; (19)). Interestingly, it was not systematically investigated which factors may explain these gender differences. ...
The present study revealed a small but distinct relationship between some trait aspects of mental health, dream recall frequency and attitudes towards dreams. The patterns were gender specific: for 47 men (mean age 37.6 yrs), a positive correlation between mental health and dream variables was found, whereas a negative correlation for "self-forgetting vs. self-centered" was found in 42 women (mean age 34.7 yrs). The observed relations may be useful in assessing mental health, i. e. by including dream-related items in research instruments. In addition, the findings suggest that simple techniques such as dream-telling or self-guided dreamwork may have a positive effect on coping with internal and external demands and mental health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
... g . , Robbins & Tanck , 1988 ; Schredl , 2000 , 2003 ...
There exists little research on dream-related beliefs and their role in peoples' lives. Our aim was to develop a questionnaire (the Inventory of Dream Experiences & Attitudes [IDEA]) to assess dream-related beliefs and inves-tigate their relations to waking-state variables. Seven hundred twenty-five participants completed the IDEA, and 357 participants also completed ques-tionnaires on dreams, personality, and well-being and recorded their dreams for 2 or more consecutive weeks. A factor analysis of the IDEA revealed 7 dimensions: significance, positivity, recall, apprehension, entertainment, con-tinuity, and guidance. Using these dimensions, individuals were classified into three distinct profiles that showed differential relations to measures of per-sonality and well-being. The findings indicate that the IDEA is a useful instrument for researchers and that dream-related beliefs can play important psychological roles. Research on dream-related beliefs has been scarce, with the exception of peoples' attitude toward dreams, a global trait representing a general interest in dreams (e.g., Cernovsky, 1984; Robbins & Tanck, 1988; Rochlen, Ligiero, Hill, & Heaton, 1999; Schredl & Doll, 2001). Most studies show a moderate-sized relation between attitude toward dreams and dream recall frequency (e.g., Schredl & Montasser, 1996 –1997). However, a recent meta-analysis revealed that the size of the relation is probably overestimated because of methodological considerations regarding how dream recall is assessed (Beaulieu-Pré vost & Zadra, 2007).
... Gender differences in dreaming such as heightened dream recall frequency in women (cf. Schredl, 2000Schredl, , 2002Schredl, /2003 1996) and, for example, more physical aggression in menÕs dreams (Hall & Van de Castle, 1966) have been reported in the literature repeatedly (overview: Schredl, Sahin, & Schäfer, 1998). Regarding the gender difference in dream recall, similar effect sizes were found for studies (d = 0.53;Heerwagen, 1889;d = 0.44;Wynaendts-Francken, 1907; reanalyzed by Schredl & Piel, 2003) conducted over a 100 yrs. ...
Based on previous findings, the stability of gender differences in dream content over time has been studied. The present study included four representative samples from 1956 to 2000. For the two analyzed dream themes (work-related dreams, dreams of deceased persons), gender differences have been quite stable over time as has also been reported for the gender difference in dream recall frequency. In addition, the finding that men reported work-related dreams more often and that older persons reported more dreams of deceased persons clearly support the continuity hypothesis. The findings of the present study indicate that it is necessary to complement the data base of well-documented gender differences in young samples, e.g., men dream about physical aggression more often, by dream content analytic studies in larger representative samples.
... There are inconsistent findings as to whether females recall more nightmares than males. (Chivers, & Blagrove, 1999;Schredl, 2000;Zadra, & Donderi, 2000). ...
The current study investigated the relationship between nightmare experience, psychopathology and personality in a sample of 148 Australian school students aged between 12 and 18 years. In this sample, adolescents who experienced high levels of nightmare sleeping distress also tended to experience high levels of nightmare waking distress. Adolescents who experienced higher frequency of nightmares also tended to experience higher levels of nightmare waking distress. Frequency of nightmares was not associated with nightmare sleeping distress. No significant difference for gender was found on any of the nightmare measures. All psychopathology scores intercorrelated strongly and psychopathology was associated with all three nightmare measures. Anxiety was the most commonly reported correlate of all three nightmare measures. The hypothesis that nightmare sleeping distress was predicted by personality and psychopathology was partially supported. Nightmare sleeping distress was more likely to be associated with high levels of neuroticism and with lower levels of psychoticism, but not with extraversion. However, other hypotheses predicting a mediational model for personality and psychopathology with nightmare frequency and nightmare waking distress were not supported.
... Men and women have different dream experiences. Men have lower dream recall than women (Cowen and Levin, 1995;Schredl, 2000), and men's dreams contain more aggression, anxiety, achievement, and work-related themes than do women's dreams ( Schredl and Piel, 2005;Van de Castle, 1994). ...
We review theories of dream work. We also review the empirical research about how dreams are used in psychotherapy, as well as the process and outcome of different models of dream work. Finally, we review how dream content can be used to understand client, the role of culture in dream work, client and therapist dreams about each other, and training therapists to do dream work.
Dreams are a bridge between conscious and unconscious. The continuing hypothesis of dreams in the general form states that dreams reflect a situation of waking life — something that is the center of attention, thought, and everyday experience — especially stressors, personal attention and emotional conditions. Dreams are an affective symbol of a person's emotional condition, therefore research on dreams is mostly done to see how psychological the individual is. This study aims to determine the relationship between emotional regulation and dreams, especially emotional elements in dreams in the regular-2 student population of Mercu Buana University, Jakarta. Data collection was conducted on 174 respondents of UMB Regular Psychology-2 students using non-probability sampling techniques, and using two questionnaires, namely a dream questionnaire adapted from The Mannhein Dream Questionnaire and an emotional regulation questionnaire adapted from the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. The results of this study indicate that there is a significant relationship between emotion regulation and reappraisal dimensions with dreams but there is no relationship between suppression and dream dimensions. The researcher assumes that respondents who carry out a reappraisal strategy may only see the situation or conflict that they face as a situation that is not too emotional but does not really solve the problem at hand. In this case it is possible for the respondent to have emotions that are not expressed through the use of the reappraisal strategy, because reappraisal is a strategy that is used where the emotional response becomes triggered or not, which can be explained that emotion appears but is reappraisal so that it is intercepted appear in a dream.
The human lesion method for the study of dreaming has been criticized on the grounds that patients’ reports of dream cessation can be conceived as a secondary effect of memory failure, rather than as a direct consequence of neurological insults. There are two arguments within this criticism. First, dream recall is difficult in nature, even in normal people. Second, neurological patients’ memories, and therefore their dream recall, are poor. This paper aims to determine whether dream recall is difficult in nature by summarizing the findings generated by the major methods utilized by researchers to study dream recall. Moreover, the controversy of dream cessation as a secondary effect of memory failure is examined, taking into consideration the clinical attributes of the major categories of neurological memory dysfunction. The analyses indicate an essential differentiation between memory failure and dream cessation.
The purpose of this review is to identify the main factors influencing dream recall frequency by focussing on the most recent developments and important contributions to the field. In summary, the capacity to produce dream experiences appears to depend on visuospatial skills while the capacity to recall dreams depends primarily on motivational factors as well as on variables affecting the accessibility of the dream experience. With respect to the various traits traditionally associated with dream recall (e.g. absorption, psychological boundaries, mental imagery, creativity), they likely reflect an estimation bias. Finally, the role of the dream experience's saliency on its recall remains uncertain.
Differences between the dreams of men and women have been a topic of interest and research in the field of dream science. This article focuses on three such gender differences in dreaming, namely, dream recall frequency, sex of dream character and dream aggression. For each gender difference, a review of literature is presented, along with a discussion of possible causes for the difference between genders. In addition, suggestions are made for applications to clinical practice with a focus on gender-specific dream work strategies for work with male clients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Many studies investigated how personality, behavior, and attitude mediate dream recall, but few distinguish between measures of dream recall frequency: the number of dreams experienced in a specified time frame and dream detail: individual ratings of vividness or detailed content of dreams. This study compared undergraduates'' (n = 173) self-reported dream recall frequency, and dream detail, with behaviors, attitude toward dreaming, and scores on scales of Extraversion/Introversion and Type A/B. Dream recall frequency and dream detail manifested different patterns of association in relation to behaviors, attitude and personality. Dream recall frequency was associated with the frequency of experiencing emotionally disturbing dreams and trying to interpret dreams, while detail of dreams was associated with positive attitude toward dreaming and Type B personality. Although males and females both held positive attitudes toward dreaming, females experienced more emotionally disturbing dreams and felt unable to control their dreams. Interactions between personality and gender emerged for behaviors associated with dreaming. Researchers are encouraged to differentiate between dream recall frequency and dream detail.
Dream questionnaires are widely used in dream research to measure dream recall frequency and various aspects of dream life. The present study has investigated the intercorrelation between questionnaire and diary measures. 285 participants completed a dream questionnaire and kept a dream diary over a two-week period. Results indicate that keeping a dream diary increased dream recall in low and medium dream recallers but decreased dream recall in high dream recallers. The correlation coefficients between questionnaire items measuring aspects of dream content and diary data were large, except for a more complex scale (realism/bizarreness). In the low recall group, however, considerably lower coefficients were found indicating that recall and sampling processes affect the response to global items measuring dream content. Using the example of testing gender differences, the findings of the present study clearly indicate that the measurement technique affects the results. Whereas sufficient internal consistency and retest reliability have been demonstrated for various dream questionnaires, future research should focus on the aspects of validity by comparing questionnaire data to dream content analysis of at least 20 dreams per person.
Dream books have a very long history, but systematic research on how many people have read magazine articles or books on dreams and whether reading such literature is beneficial to the dreamer is scarce. In the present sample of 444 people (mostly psychology students), about 75% of the participants stated that they had read at least one magazine article on dreams, and more than 40% had read at least one book about dreams. The main factor associated with the frequency of reading dream literature was a positive attitude toward dreaming, whereas personality factors play a minor role in explaining interindividual differences in this variable. The self-rated benefit of reading dream literature varied greatly, from not helpful at all to very helpful, and was associated with dream recall frequency and positive attitude toward dreaming. Using this approach in a more sophisticated way, eliciting details about the kinds of information participants have read would help researchers learn more about what techniques of dream work are effective and thus complement the research carried out in therapist-guided sessions.
The issue of a quantitative and qualitative impoverishment of dream activity in alexithymic subjects was assessed by analysis of the 14-day dream reports of two groups of accurately selected alexithymic and nonalexithymic subjects.
Ten alexithymic and 10 nonalexithymic women were selected from a larger sample of 160 undergraduate students. The transcriptions of their audio-recorded dream reports on 14 consecutive morning awakenings were compared with regard to their length and emotional content. Self-ratings obtained from sleep and dream diaries were further considered to assess between-groups differences in dream recall frequency and in the emotional valence, vividness, and bizarreness of dreams.
Dream recall frequency and mean length of dream reports were lower in alexithymic than in nonalexithymic subjects. There were no significant between-groups differences in emotional valence, vividness, bizarreness, and emotions scored according to the Hall and Van de Castle coding system.
The results suggest a general difficulty of alexithymics in accessing (recalling) their dreams.
In two studies, Caucasian and Asian college students recalled their earliest memory of a dream, and they provided information about behaviours and beliefs associated with dreaming. Consistent with previous research on childhood amnesia, participants rarely recounted dreams that occurred before age 3. In Study 1, the mean age of the earliest dream memory was 14 months earlier for Caucasians than for Asians. In Study 2, more Asians than Caucasians were unable to remember a childhood dream. Dream-related behaviours and beliefs also differed markedly across cultures. Compared to Asians, Caucasians reported talking more frequently with parents about their dreams in childhood, receiving stronger parental encouragement to share dreams, and feeling more comfortable doing so. Caucasians also reported sharing their dreams with others more frequently in adulthood and they assigned greater value to their dreams. Most Caucasians but few Asians consented to the researchers' request to send parents a questionnaire concerning the participant's childhood dreams. The results support the social interaction explanation for autobiographical memory development, in which parent-child conversations about the personal past contribute to memory accessibility.
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