Nonwaking Responses to Waking Stressors: Dreams and Nightmares1
Cynthia A. Loveland Cook, Robert D. Caplan, Howard M. Wolowitz
Journal of Applied Social Psychology February 1, 1990 DOI: 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1990.tb00407.x (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Survey interview study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 442 |
| Population | Men from the cohort eligible for military duty during the Vietnam Conflict, varying in their participation in that war |
| Citations | 18 |
| Key findings | Dreams were over 3.5 times more prevalent than nightmares, yet only nightmare prevalence, frequency, and content were consistently associated with life stressors including combat exposure, childhood and adolescent stressors, and recent life events. The authors propose mechanisms involving affect and cognition, wish fulfillment, and working-through processes to explain links between nonwaking cognitions and stress. |
Abstract
A distinction between self‐reported dreams and nightmares made it possible to test the relative sensitivity of these nonwaking cognitions to different kinds of life stressors including combat expasure, childhood and adolescent stressom, and recent life events. Survey interview data were collected on 442 men from the cohort eligible for military duty during the Vietnam Conflict who varied in their partiapation in that war. Dreams were over 3.5 times more prevalent than nightmares. Nevertheless, it was the prevalence, frequency, and content of nightmares, not dreams, that were consistently associated with life stresors. Links between nonwaking cognitions and life stressors are explored with regard to hypothesized mechanisms involving affect and cognition, wish fulfillment, and working‐through processes.