Self-Structure Functioning and Nightmare Frequency: The Role of Nightmare Proneness
Journal of International Scholarship January 1, 2026 William E. Kelly
Nightmares are distressing dreams that may stem from difficulties in regulating internal experiences rather than from specific psychiatric disorders. In 202 university students, impairments in self-functions (regulation and integration of internal experience) were strongly associated with nightmare proneness, which in turn was linked to greater nightmare frequency. The relationship between self-functions and nightmare frequency occurred primarily through nightmare proneness, with no significant direct association. These findings suggest that how people structure and regulate their internal experiences indirectly influences how often they have nightmares, via cognitive-affective processing patterns.