Typical dreams of Chinese elderly people during COVID-19 pandemic.
Dengle Yang, Wenyuan Wu, Yiyun Xia, Yuanming Feng, Jin Zhang
Dreaming April 13, 2023 DOI: 10.1037/drm0000237 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Cross-sectional study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 264 |
| Population | Chinese elderly people from four cities in different regions of China |
| Key findings | Dream themes of flooding and seeing oneself die were more frequent among elderly participants with high death anxiety. |
Abstract
This study aimed at investigating the dream themes of Chinese elderly people during COVID-19 and its relationship with death anxiety. In this study, 264 participants from four cities in different regions of China were interviewed through one-on-one interviews. Nielsen's Typical Dream Questionnaire (TDQ) and Death Anxiety Scale (DAS) were also administered. The dream recall rate of the elderly was 48.48%;there were differences in TDQ35 and TDQ1 between the experimental group (EG) and control group (CG);the most common emotion in elderly people's dreams was fear;TDQ21 (flood) and TDQ28 (see Yourself Die) were two higher frequent dream themes in the high death anxiety group. The results support the dream continuity hypothesis and threat simulation theory (TST), dreams may help coping with death anxiety, and future research directions are also suggested. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
Citations in the library
Cited by 2
- Viral simulations in dreams: The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on threatening dream content in a Finnish sample of diary dreams Consciousness and Cognition February 8, 2024
- The return to normal life: sleep, anxiety upon awakening, and nightmares following the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic Frontiers in Sleep June 24, 2026