Who Dreams of the Deceased? The Roles of Dream Recall, Grief Intensity, Attachment, and Openness to Experience
Joshua Black, K. Belicki, Jessica Emberley-Ralph
Dreaming (New York, N.Y.) March 1, 2019 DOI: 10.1037/drm0000100 (opens in new tab) via Semantic Scholar
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractDreaming of a deceased loved one is partly explained by general dream recall, grief intensity, openness to experience, and attachment to the deceased. In two online surveys of bereaved adults—one of 268 people who lost a romantic partner within 12–24 months, the other of 162 people whose pet died within 6 months—path analyses showed that dream recall frequency directly predicted dreams of the deceased. In the pet-loss study, grief intensity and openness also had direct effects. Across both studies, grief, openness, and attachment indirectly influenced dreams of the deceased through dream recall or through grief and dream recall. Those who recalled such dreams reported more positive themes, unlike ordinary or posttraumatic dreams.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Cross-sectional survey with path analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 268 |
| Population | U.S. residents who lost a romantic partner or spouse in the previous 12–24 months (Study 1) and U.S. residents whose dog or cat died in the previous 6 months (Study 2) |
| Keywords | Psychology |
| Key finding | Frequency of dream recall showed direct effects on dreaming of the deceased in both studies; grief intensity and openness to experience also showed direct effects in the pet-loss study, and grief, openness, and attachment showed indirect effects through dream recall or grief and dream recall. |
Abstract
This research addressed the question of why some bereaved individuals dream of the deceased whereas others do not. Two studies were conducted. In one, participants were 268 U.S. residents (150 men, 116 women, 1 other, and 1 undisclosed), with an age range of 20 to 70 (M = 33.8), who had lost a romantic partner or spouse in the previous 12 to 24 months. The second study had 162 U.S. residents (88 men and 74 women), aged 18 to 63 (M = 32.1), whose dog or cat had died in the previous 6 months. In both studies, participants completed online questionnaires assessing frequency of dreams of the deceased, general dream recall, consistency of dream recall, themes in dreams of the deceased, grief intensity, attachment to the deceased, and the personality variable of openness to experience. Path analyses found that in both studies frequency of dream recall showed direct effects on dreaming of the deceased, and in the pet loss study, grief intensity and openness to experience also showed direct effects. However, in both studies, grief intensity, openness to experience, and attachment all showed indirect effects either through dream recall (in the case of grief and openness to experience) or through grief intensity and dream recall (in the case of attachment). It is also noteworthy that, in both studies, those who recalled dreams of the deceased endorsed more positive themed dreams of the deceased, which contrasts both with “ordinary” dreaming and with posttraumatic dreams.