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Comparing questionnaire and diary measures for eliciting nightmare frequency

Mariella Zunker, Hanna Katharina Althoff, Julia Apel, Hannah Sophie Lässig, Leonie Schültke, Michael Schredl

University Library Heidelberg 2015 DOI: 10.11588/ijodr.2015.2.23395 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Observational cohort Peer reviewed
Sample size 71
Population Participants who filled in a questionnaire about sleep, dreams, and emotions
Duration Two-week diary period
Topics Dreaming Lucid dreaming
Keywords Recall Happiness Checklist Affect linguistics Clinical psychology Cognitive psychology Psychotherapist
Citations 21
Key findings Diary measures produced a small but non-significant increase in nightmare estimates compared to retrospective questionnaires, with larger differences in dream recall frequency, happiness, and pain sensations. The increase in nightmare frequency may result from increased overall dream recall, and other differences may be due to motivation effects.

Abstract

Studies investigating the prevalence of nightmares have generally found higher frequencies in studies using daily logbooks or diaries compared to retrospective reports, raising the question as to whether retrospective questionnaires lead to an underestimation of nightmare frequency, possibly due to the suppression of the frightening nightmare experience or if the diary enhances recall. In this study, 71 participants filled in a questionnaire about their sleep, dreams, and emotions during the day in the beginning phase of the study and were then asked to keep a checklist diary for two weeks. The results show that there is a small but non-significant increase in nightmare estimates and much more pronounced differences in overall dream recall frequency and in other aspects of daily life, such happiness and pain sensations. No effect of emotional tone on the differences in the questionnaire and diary measures was found. The present findings imply that the increase in nightmare frequency using diary measures instead of retrospective questionnaires might be a result of the increase in overall dream recall frequency. The differences in the other variables might be attributable to motivation effects. For future research, we suggest eliciting current stress levels and attitudes toward nightmares in order to study whether these variables might affect the difference between diary and questionnaire measures.

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 16

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Dreaming Lucid dreaming