Early maternal separation, nightmares, and bad dreams: results from the Hungarostudy Epidemiological Panel.
Szilvia Csóka, Péter Simor, Gabor Szabo, Mária S Kopp, Róbert Bódizs
Attachment & human development March 1, 2011 DOI: 10.1080/14616734.2011.553991 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 5,020 |
| Population | Hungarian adults from the Hungarostudy Epidemiological Panel |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Key findings | Early maternal separation is associated with more frequent nightmares and bad dreams in adulthood, with depression mediating the association for nightmare frequency but not for negative dream affect. |
Abstract
Early maternal separation is a particularly stressful experience. Current models of nightmare production emphasize negative emotionality as having a central role in determining dream affect. Our aim is to test the hypothesis that persons who experienced early maternal separation (before one year of age and lasting at least one month) report more frequent nightmare experiences and bad dreams as adults. In the frame of the Hungarostudy Epidemiological Panel, 5020 subjects were interviewed. Significant associations were found between early maternal separation and both frequent nightmare experience in adulthood and increased frequency of oppressive and bad dreams. Current depression scores fully mediated the association between early separation and nightmares, but not the association between early separation and negative dream affect. We interpret these findings as a trait-like enhancement of negative emotionality in adults who experienced early maternal separation. This enhancement influences the content of dreams and, when it takes the form of depression, also influences the frequency of nightmares.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lucid Dreaming: a State of Consciousness with Features of Both Waking and Non-Lucid Dreaming Student volunteers trained to become lucid and signal lucidity with horizontal eye... | 2009 | Observational study | n = 6 |
| Nightmare Prevalence, Nightmare Distress, and Self-Reported Psychological Disturbance Young adults with a mean age of 20 years | 2002 | Prospective observational study | n = 116 |
| Long-term effects of extreme situational stress on sleep and dreaming Survivors of traumatic events who complained of sleep disturbances, compared with... | 1987 | Case-control study | n = 11 |
| The relationship of nightmare frequency and nightmare distress to well‐being Adults who reported dreams | 2004 | Observational cohort | n = 147 |
| Dreaming in NREM Sleep: A High-Density EEG Study of Slow Waves and Spindles Healthy human subjects | 2018 | Observational cohort | n = 14 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 6
- Dissociated Effects of Age and Recent Troubling Experiences on Nightmares, Threats and Negative Emotions in Dreams. Frontiers in Psychiatry March 3, 2022
- Adverse Childhood Experiences Are Associated With Adult Dream Content: A Cross-Sectional Survey. Frontiers in Psychology 2022
- Early childhood adversity associations with nightmare severity and sleep spindles. Sleep Medicine April 1, 2019
- The Stress Acceleration Hypothesis of Nightmares. Frontiers in Neurology June 1, 2017
- [Nightmares in the bedroom of science: mapping of a neglected sleep disorder]. Orvosi hetilap March 31, 2013
and 1 more in the library
Cites 10
- Nightmares and bad dreams in patients with borderline personality disorder: Fantasy as a coping skill? The European Journal of Psychiatry March 1, 2010
- Dreaming and health promotion: A theoretical proposal and some epidemiological establishments European Journal of Mental Health June 1, 2008
- Individual differences in adult attachment are systematically related to dream narratives. Attachment & human development March 1, 2011
- Nightmare disorder, dream anxiety, and subjective sleep quality in patients with borderline personality disorder. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences February 1, 2008
- Dreaming in posttraumatic stress disorder: A critical review of phenomenology, psychophysiology and treatment. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics 2007
and 5 more in the library