0128 Emotion Regulation Approaches are Related to Nightmare Frequency and Nightmare-Related Impairment

People who habitually suppress their emotions—inhibiting emotional expression—are more likely to experience severe nightmare-related distress, while those who use cognitive reappraisal, an adaptive reframing of emotional experiences, tend to report fewer nightmares. In a survey of university students, higher expressive suppression increased the odds of reporting more severe nightmare impairment by 14%. Higher cognitive reappraisal decreased the odds of more frequent nightmares by 4%. Age was not a significant factor. The findings suggest that emotion regulation styles are relevant to understanding vulnerability to nightmares, though causal mechanisms remain unclear.

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Abstract

Abstract Introduction Dreaming is theorized to facilitate fear extinction, a type of implicit emotion regulation, whereas nightmares are thought to reflect failures in this regulatory process. However, it is not known whether the frequency of nightmares and associated functional impairment are related to explicit emotion regulation styles. This study examined associations between nightmare experiences and two emotion-regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal (adaptive reframing of emotional experiences) and expressive suppression (maladaptive inhibition of emotional expression), in a sample of university students. Methods Participants were undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory psychology course. They completed a survey assessing nightmare frequency and nightmare-related impairment (Nightmare Disorder Index; NDI), and emotion-regulation strategies (Emotion Regulation Questionnaire). Given the ordered-categorical structure of NDI responses, cumulative link ordinal regression models were used to test whether cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression predicted higher levels of nightmare frequency and impairment, adjusting for age. Results In the model predicting nightmare-related impairment, higher expressive suppression significantly increased the odds of reporting more severe nightmare impairment (OR = 1.14, 95% CI [1.07, 1.23], p < .001). Cognitive reappraisal showed a nonsignificant trend toward reducing nightmare impairment severity (OR = 0.97, 95% CI [0.92, 1.02], p = .27). In the model predicting nightmare frequency, higher cognitive reappraisal significantly decreased the odds of reporting more frequent nightmares (OR = 0.96, 95% CI [0.93, 1.00], p = .025), whereas expressive suppression did not significantly predict frequency (OR ≈ 1.00, p = .96). Age was not a significant predictor in either model. Conclusion Findings suggest that maladaptive emotional suppression is associated with greater nightmare-related distress, whereas adaptive cognitive reappraisal is modestly associated with fewer nightmares. These preliminary results highlight the relevance of emotion regulation processes in understanding vulnerability to nightmare experiences. Future research using targeted measures, longitudinal designs, and more controlled sampling is needed to clarify underlying mechanisms and strengthen causal inferences. Support (if any)