Nightmare Distress, Beliefs about Nightmares, and Personality
Imagination, Cognition and Personality June 17, 2020 DOI: 10.1177/0276236620934371 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Cross-sectional survey Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 1,214 |
| Population | Adults who completed an online survey |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Key findings | Beliefs about nightmares, gender, neuroticism, and agreeableness independently contribute to nightmare distress beyond nightmare frequency. |
Abstract
A variety of factors contribute to nightmare distress; in addition to nightmare frequency also beliefs about nightmares can be associated with heightened nightmare distress. The study investigated the personality correlates of beliefs about nightmares and whether these beliefs mediate the relationship between gender, neuroticism, and nightmare distress. Overall, 1214 persons (716 women, 498 men) completed the dream questions and the Big Five Personality Inventory online. The beliefs about nightmares scale was related to neuroticism and openness to experience. However, the regression analysis indicated that a variety of factors like beliefs about nightmares, gender, neuroticism, and agreeableness contributed to nightmare distress independently from nightmare frequency. Given the marked influence of beliefs about nightmares on nightmare distress, it would be very interesting to study the effect of psycho-education presenting modern etiological models of nightmares on nightmare distress.
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 4
- The Relationship between Nightmare Experience and Athletes’ Personality Traits and Anxiety International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health October 8, 2022
- Nightmare Frequency and Nightmare Distress in Poor Sleepers: A Cross-Sectional Study. Journal of Sleep Research August 21, 2025
- Nightmare frequency and nightmare distress in psychiatric inpatients. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience June 1, 2025
- Nightmare distress is related to traumatic childhood experiences, critical life events and emotional appraisal of a dream rather than to its content. Journal of Sleep Research November 5, 2022
Cites 9
- The relationship of nightmare frequency and nightmare distress to well‐being Journal of Sleep Research May 26, 2004
- Aetiology and treatment of nightmare disorder: State of the art and future perspectives Journal of Sleep Research January 29, 2019
- Nightmare frequency in a representative German sample University Library Heidelberg 2013
- Gender differences in dream socialisation in children and adolescents International Journal of Adolescence and Youth February 27, 2013
- Position Paper for the Treatment of Nightmare Disorder in Adults: An American Academy of Sleep Medicine Position Paper. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine June 15, 2018
and 4 more in the library