Maternal representations in the dreams of pregnant women: a prospective comparative study.
Jessica Lara-Carrasco, Valérie Simard, Kadia Saint-Onge, Vickie Lamoureux-Tremblay, Tore Nielsen
Frontiers in Psychology August 27, 2013 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00551 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 119 |
| Population | 60 non-pregnant women and 59 pregnant women (37 in early third trimester, 22 in late third trimester) |
| Duration | 14-day home dream logs |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Maternal mental representations Pregnancy-related themes Dream emotions |
| Key findings | Pregnant women reported more dreams depicting themselves as mothers or with babies and children, and more pregnancy, childbirth, and fetus themes, than non-pregnant women. Baby and child representations were less specific in late than early third trimester and than in non-pregnant women, and pregnant women reported more morbid dream elements, which the authors suggest reflects a more dysphoric emotional tone. |
Abstract
Dreams are thought to respond to self- and socially-relevant situations that evoke strong emotions and require rapid adaptation. First pregnancy is such a situation during which maternal mental representations (MMR) of the unborn baby, the self and significant others undergo remodeling. Some studies suggest that dreams during pregnancy contain more MMR and are more dysphoric, but such studies contain important methodological flaws. We assessed whether dreamed MMR, like waking MMR, change from the 7th month of pregnancy to birth, and whether pregnancy-related themes and non-pregnancy characteristics are also transformed. Sixty non-pregnant and 59 pregnant women (37 early and 22 late 3rd trimester) completed demographic and psychological questionnaires and 14-day home dream logs. Dream reports were blindly rated according to four dream categories: (1) Dreamed MMR, (2) Quality of baby/child representations, (3) Pregnancy-related themes, (4) Non-pregnancy characteristics. Controlling for age, relationship and employment status, education level and state anxiety, women in both pregnant groups reported more dreams depicting themselves as a mother or with babies/children than did non-pregnant women (all p = 0.006). Baby/child representations were less specific in the late 3rd than in the early 3rd trimester (p = 0.005) and than in non-pregnant women (p = 0.01). Pregnant groups also had more pregnancy, childbirth and fetus themes (all p = 0.01). Childbirth content was higher in late than in early 3rd trimester (p = 0.01). Pregnant groups had more morbid elements than did the non-pregnant group (all p < 0.05). Dreaming during pregnancy appears to reflect daytime processes of remodeling MMR of the woman as a mother and of her unborn baby, and parallels a decline in the quality of baby/child representations in the last stage of pregnancy. More frequent morbid content in late pregnancy suggests that the psychological challenges of pregnancy are reflected in a generally more dysphoric emotional tone in dream content.
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 9
- The association between dream activity and alexithymia during pregnancy: A cross-sectional study in a sample of pregnant women. Journal of Sleep Research August 1, 2025
- Dreams and Nightmares in Early Pregnancy: A Comparative Study with a Control Group. Nature and Science of Sleep 2025
- Dreaming for two: A systematic review of mental sleep activity during pregnancy. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews August 1, 2024
- Parasomnias in Pregnancy. Brain Sciences February 18, 2023
- Dream Recall and Content versus the Menstrual Cycle: A Cross-Sectional Study in Healthy Women. Medical Sciences July 21, 2019
and 4 more in the library
Cites 7
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- The continuity and discontinuity between waking and dreaming: A Dialogue between Michael Schredl and Allan Hobson concerning the adequacy and completeness of these notions heiDOK (Heidelberg University) 2011
- Extending the Rorschach Trauma Content Index and Aggression Indexes to Dream Narratives of Children Exposed to Enduring Violence: An Exploratory Study Journal of personality assessment October 16, 2008
- Costly Signaling Theory of REM Sleep and Dreams Evolutionary Psychology 2007
- Dream-associated behaviors affecting pregnant and postpartum women. Sleep September 1, 2007
and 2 more in the library