Examination of the Relationships Between Dream Themes, Coping Attitudes, and Emotional Authenticity

Emotional authenticity is negatively associated with anxiety, fear, frustration, and negative dream themes, and positively associated with self-help, approach, and accommodation coping attitudes. Avoidance and self-punishment coping attitudes are positively linked to those negative dream themes. Self-punishment fully mediates the relationship between emotional authenticity and dream anxiety themes, suggesting dream content may reflect coping patterns and personality dynamics.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to examine the relationships among dream themes, coping attitudes, and emotional authenticity. Dreams may serve as important phenomenological indicators reflecting individuals’ emotional processes and coping patterns in waking life. Methods: Using a quantitative correlational survey design, data were collected from 555 participants through the Dream Themes Scale (DTS), the Coping Attitudes Assessment Scale (COPE-R), and the Emotional Authenticity Scale (EAS). The data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and mediation analyses. Results: When the relationships between scale total scores and subdimensions were examined, emotional authenticity was found to be negatively associated with anxiety themes, fear themes, frustration themes, and negative themes. Emotional authenticity was positively associated with the self-help, approach, and accommodation coping attitudes, and negatively associated with the avoidance and self-punishment coping attitudes. Anxiety themes, fear themes, frustration themes, and negative themes were positively associated with avoidance and self-punishment. The mediation analysis indicated that self-punishment showed a significant indirect association in the relationship between emotional authenticity and dream anxiety themes, consistent with a full mediation pattern. Conclusion: This study contributes to the literature by empirically modeling the relationships of dream themes with emotional authenticity and coping attitudes. The findings suggest that dream content may be considered not only as a phenomenological outcome but also as a clinically meaningful source of information regarding individuals’ personality dynamics and coping patterns.