Phenomenal qualities of nightmare experience in a prospective study of college students.
Dreaming June 1, 2002 DOI: 10.1023/a:1015315707100 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 116 |
| Population | 63 frequent nightmare individuals and 53 controls |
| Duration | 21 consecutive nights |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Citations | 26 |
| Key findings | Nightmare prevalence was unrelated to state-based ratings of nightmare experience, including concurrent distress, but was significantly associated with a global measure of nightmare distress. Global ratings of saliency showed greater predictive validity than concurrent ratings, suggesting that reports of nightmares relate more to global views of dreaming than to the actual nightmare experience. |
Abstract
The present study investigated the relationship between both state and global measures of phenomenal qualities of nightmare experience and nightmare prevalence as measured prospectively by dream logs. Sixty three frequent nightmare individuals and 53 controls completed a retrospective measure of their sleep and dreaming processes and kept a dreaming and nightmare log for 21 consecutive nights. Nightmare prevalence was unrelated to all three state-based rating dimensions including a concurrent rating of how distressing the actual nightmare was but was significantly associated with a global measure of nightmare distress. Similarly, global ratings of dream and nightmare saliency showed greater predictive validity than ratings of the same dimensions rated concurrently. The results suggest that whether a person reports having a nightmare on any given night is more associated with how they view their global dreaming processes than with the phenomenal qualities of the actual nightmare itself.
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 |
| The prevalence of nightmares and their independence from anxiety. Undergraduates | 1990 | Observational study using daily dream logs | n = 220 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 13
- Nightmare Prevalence, Nightmare Distress, and Self-Reported Psychological Disturbance Sleep 2002
- The relationship of nightmare frequency and nightmare distress to well‐being Journal of Sleep Research May 26, 2004
- Measuring nightmare and bad dream frequency: impact of retrospective and prospective instruments Journal of Sleep Research May 13, 2008
- Fragmented sleep - fragmented mind : the role of sleep in dissociative symptoms 2013
- Nightmare experience and family relationships in healthy volunteers and nightmare disorder patients. BMC Psychiatry October 11, 2019
and 8 more in the library
Cites 10
- The prevalence of nightmares and their independence from anxiety. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 1990
- On the Psychometric Properties of Retrospective Dream Content Questionnaires Imagination Cognition and Personality June 1, 1996
- Assessing dreams through self-report questionnaires: Relations with past research and personality. Dreaming March 1, 1995
- Nightmares and annihilation anxiety. Psychoanalytic psychology 1995
- Daydreams, Nightmares, and Insomnia: The Relation of Waking Fantasy to Sleep Disturbances Imagination, Cognition and Personality March 1, 1985
and 5 more in the library