A Study of Individual differences on Dream Recall: Influence of stressful life events and big five personality traits on dream recall frequency
Chie Suzuki, Eiko Matsuda
2012 DOI: 10.5058/stresskagakukenkyu.27.71 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study |
|---|---|
| Population | University students |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Key findings | Stressors and Neuroticism interact to affect dream recall frequency; stressors increase negative dream recall, and personality traits differentially predict the emotional content of recalled dreams. |
Abstract
This study investigated the effects of stressors for university students and their big five personality traits on dream recall frequency classified by dream emotion. The following results were obtained: i) stressors and Neuroticism had an interactive effect on dream recall frequency. ii) Stressors had main effects on sad, anxious, and unpleasant dream recall frequency. iii) Extroversion was negatively correlated with nightmare recall frequency and positively correlated with pleasant dream recall frequency. iv) Neuroticism was negatively correlated with pleasant dream recall frequency and positively with sad, anxious, strange, and unpleasant dream recall frequency. v) Agreeableness was negatively correlated with nightmare recall frequency and positively with unpleasant dream recall frequency. These results showed that stressors related to mainly negative dream recall and emotions of recalled dreams varied by the dimensions of big five. The findings implicate that mental support for enhancing stress-coping ac-cording personality traits can be effective to prevent harmful effects after awakening from negative dream recall.
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 2
- The Relationship between Nightmare Experience and Athletes’ Personality Traits and Anxiety International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health October 8, 2022
- Association Between Dreams, Anxiety, and Depressive Symptoms Among Japanese Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study Clocks & Sleep June 26, 2025