Typical dreams of Chinese elderly people during COVID-19 pandemic.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, dream themes among Chinese older adults were linked to death anxiety. In interviews and questionnaires with 264 participants from four Chinese cities, 48.48% recalled dreams. The most common emotion in dreams was fear. Two dream themes—flooding and seeing oneself die—were more frequent among those with high death anxiety. The findings support the dream continuity hypothesis and threat simulation theory, suggesting dreams may help cope with death anxiety.

Study at a glance

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)