Pandemic Nightmares: COVID-19 Lockdown Associated With Increased Aggression in Female University Students' Dreams
Erica Kilius, Noor H. Abbas, Leela McKinnon, David R. Samson
Frontiers in Psychology March 5, 2021 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.644636 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Cross-sectional survey Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 71 |
| Population | University students |
| Duration | March–July, 2020 |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Dream Aggression Normative Pandemic Stressor Social distance Content analysis Developmental psychology Clinical psychology Social science Psychotherapist |
| Citations | 56 |
| Key findings | Female students experienced more nightmares and aggressive dream content during the COVID-19 lockdown compared to pre-pandemic norms. |
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated stressors have impacted the daily lives and sleeping patterns of many individuals, including university students. Dreams may provide insight into how the mind processes changing realities; dreams not only allow consolidation of new information, but may give the opportunity to creatively “play out” low-risk, hypothetical threat simulations. While there are studies that analyze dreams in high-stress situations, little is known of how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted dreams of university students. The aim of this study was to explore how the dream content of students was affected during the university COVID-19 lockdown period (March–July, 2020). Using online survey methods, we analyzed dream recall content ( n = 71) using the Hall-Van de Castle dream coding system and Fisher's exact tests for sex comparisons. Preliminary results indicate that female students experienced more nightmares as compared to male students. Dream analysis found that, relative to normative American College Student (ACS) samples generated pre-COVID-19, women were more likely to experience aggressive interactions in their dream content, including increased physical aggression. Results indicate that university students did experience changes in dream content due to the pandemic lockdown period, with women disproportionally affected. These findings can aid universities in developing support programs for students by bringing forth an understanding of students' concerns and anxieties as they process the “new normal” of social distancing.
Comparable studies
Other cross-sectional and survey studies on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Insomnia Symptoms, Nightmares, and Suicidal Ideation in a College Student Sample Undergraduate students at a large, public university in the southeastern United States | 2011 | Observational cross-sectional survey | n = 583 |
| Prevalence and Correlates of Frequent Nightmares: A Community-Based 2-Phase Study Middle-aged Hong Kong Chinese adults from the community, mean age 40.9 years (SD 5.5,... | 2010 | Cross-sectional survey with subsequent clinical evaluation (two-phase design) | n = 8,558 |
| Factors of home dream recall: a structural equation model Adults (general population sample) | 2003 | Cross-sectional survey with structural equation modeling | n = 444 |
| The Phenomenology of Lucid Dreaming: An Online Survey Respondents to an online survey about lucid dreams | 2014 | Online survey | n = 684 |
| Frequency of Lucid Dreaming in a Representative German Sample Representative sample of German adults | 2011 | Cross-sectional survey | n = 919 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 20
- Nightmare content during the COVID‐19 pandemic: Influence of COVID‐related stress and sleep disruption in the United States Journal of Sleep Research August 18, 2021
- Dreaming during COVID-19: the effects of a world trauma Research in Psychotherapy Psychopathology Process and Outcome August 24, 2021
- The Oneiric Activity during and after the COVID-19 Total Lockdown in Italy: A Longitudinal Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health March 24, 2022
- Dreaming during the COVID-19 pandemic: Support for the threat simulation function of dreams Frontiers in Psychology February 6, 2023
- Dreaming during a pandemic: Low incorporation of COVID-19-specific themes and lucidity in dreams of psychiatric patients and healthy controls. International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHP 2023
and 15 more in the library
Cites 9
- Dreaming during the Covid-19 pandemic: Computational assessment of dream reports reveals mental suffering related to fear of contagion PLoS One November 30, 2020
- Dreaming and the COVID-19 pandemic: A survey in a U.S. sample. Dreaming September 1, 2020
- Increased Awakenings From Non-rapid Eye Movement Sleep Explain Differences in Dream Recall Frequency in Healthy Individuals Frontiers in Human Neuroscience October 15, 2019
- The Influence of Culture on the Experience and Interpretation of Disturbing Dreams Culture Medicine and Psychiatry April 17, 2009
- Pandemic Dreams: Network Analysis of Dream Content During the COVID-19 Lockdown Frontiers in Psychology October 1, 2020
and 4 more in the library