Relation Between Waking Sport Activities, Reading, and Dream Content in Sport Students and Psychology Students
Michael Schredl, Daniel Erlacher
The Journal of Psychology May 1, 2008 DOI: 10.3200/jrlp.142.3.267-276 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study Longitudinal Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Dream Reading process Content measure theory Athletes Relation database Sport psychology Developmental psychology Psychotherapist |
| Citations | 46 |
| Key findings | The amount of time spent on an activity (sports or reading) was directly related to the percentage of corresponding dreams. Reading dreams were reported less frequently than sport dreams, despite reading being more prominent in waking life, suggesting emotional involvement and worries may also influence dream content. |
Abstract
The continuity hypothesis in its general form states that dreams reflect waking life: concerns, thoughts, and experiences (G. W. Domhoff, 1996; M. Schredl, 1999; I. Strauch & B. Meier, 1996). For example, athletes and sport students dream about sports more often than do psychology students, presumably reflecting their engagement in sport activities and sport theory (D. Erlacher & M. Schredl, 2004). In the present study, the authors tested the previously unexamined hypothesis that differences in dream content would directly reflect individuals' differing amounts of waking sport activities. As expected, the amount of time that individuals spent engaged in an activity (sports or reading) was directly related to their percentage of corresponding dreams. Also, individuals reported reading dreams less frequently than they did sport dreams, although reading was more prominent in their waking lives than were sport activities. The findings also indicated that other factors such as emotional involvement and associated worries might be of importance in explaining the relation between waking activities and dream events. Future studies using longitudinal designs would shed more light on this relation and would help derive a more precise formulation of the continuity hypothesis.