An analysis of laypeople’s beliefs regarding the origins of their worst nightmare
Ariela Cohen, Antonio Zadra
Papyrus : Institutional Repository (Université de Montréal) 2015 DOI: 10.11588/ijodr.2015.2.20328 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Survey Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 583 |
| Population | Adult participants |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Citations | 1 |
| Key findings | The most frequently reported causes of participants' worst nightmares were difficult interpersonal relationships, unknown or nonexistent causality, and entertainment media. Women were more likely than men to attribute their worst nightmare to interpersonal relationships, some attributions varied by age of occurrence, and recurrent worst nightmares were more often attributed to phobias and negative emotions than non-recurrent ones. |
Abstract
While many studies have examined the aetiological underpinnings and psychological correlates of nightmares, very few have focused on laypeople’s conceptions of the underlying causes of their own nightmares. The present study investigated laypeople’s causal beliefs about their worst nightmare experience and examined whether these beliefs varied as a function of participants’ gender, age of nightmare occurrence, and recurrence of the nightmare itself. Five hundred and eighty-three adult participants completed a series of questionnaires and their beliefs categorized according to a coding protocol. The results showed that: 1) The three most frequently reported explanations for people’s worst nightmare were difficult interpersonal relationships, attributions of unknown or nonexistent causality, and mediums of entertainment; 2) Women were more likely than men to attribute their worst nightmare to factors related to interpersonal relationships; 3) Some attributions varied depending on whether the worst nightmare had occurred during childhood, adolescence, or adulthood; and 4) Worst nightmares that were recurrent in nature were more likely to be attributed to phobias and negative emotions than non-recurrent worst nightmares. Interestingly, many of the lay beliefs endorsed in the present study were in line with empirical and theoretical studies on the aetiology of nightmares.
Comparable studies
Other cross-sectional and survey studies on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Insomnia Symptoms, Nightmares, and Suicidal Ideation in a College Student Sample Undergraduate students at a large, public university in the southeastern United States | 2011 | Observational cross-sectional survey | n = 583 |
| Prevalence and Correlates of Frequent Nightmares: A Community-Based 2-Phase Study Middle-aged Hong Kong Chinese adults from the community, mean age 40.9 years (SD 5.5,... | 2010 | Cross-sectional survey with subsequent clinical evaluation (two-phase design) | n = 8,558 |
| Factors of home dream recall: a structural equation model Adults (general population sample) | 2003 | Cross-sectional survey with structural equation modeling | n = 444 |
| The Phenomenology of Lucid Dreaming: An Online Survey Respondents to an online survey about lucid dreams | 2014 | Online survey | n = 684 |
| Frequency of Lucid Dreaming in a Representative German Sample Representative sample of German adults | 2011 | Cross-sectional survey | n = 919 |
Citations in the library
Cites 11
- Nightmare Prevalence, Nightmare Distress, and Self-Reported Psychological Disturbance Sleep 2002
- Thematic and content analysis of idiopathic nightmares and bad dreams. Sleep February 1, 2014
- Nightmare frequency, nightmare distress, and psychopathology in female victims of childhood maltreatment. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease September 1, 2013
- Nightmares: Prevalence among the Finnish General Adult Population and War Veterans during 1972-2007. Sleep July 1, 2013
- Daily stress interacts with trait dissociation to predict sleep-related experiences in young adults. Journal of Abnormal Psychology August 1, 2011
and 6 more in the library