Things that Go Bump in the Night: Frequency and Predictors of Nightmares in Anxious and Nonanxious Children.
Katharine C Reynolds, Candice A Alfano
Behavioral Sleep Medicine September 25, 2015 DOI: 10.1080/15402002.2015.1017099 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study comparing children with and without generalized anxiety disorder using prospective and retrospective reports Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 86 |
| Population | Children aged 7-11 years with generalized anxiety disorder (n = 42) and children with no diagnosis (n = 44), plus their parents |
| Duration | One-week prospective assessment period |
| Topics | Anxiety Dreaming |
| Keywords | Humans Retrospective studies Prospective studies Parents Dreams Wakefulness Sleep Anxiety disorders Child Female Self report |
| Key findings | Children with generalized anxiety disorder and their parents reported more nightmares than controls on retrospective reports, but daily prospective assessment over one week showed no group difference. Girls reported more nightmares than boys only prospectively. The authors suggest anxious children and their parents overestimate nightmare occurrence, and that child sleep anxiety and presleep somatic arousal predicted parent but not child reports. |
Abstract
Frequency and predictors of nightmares among children 7-11 years old with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD; n = 42) and no diagnosis (n = 44) were examined using both prospective and retrospective child and parent reports. Both children with GAD and their parents reported significantly more nightmares than controls based on retrospective reports, but the groups did not differ when nightmares were assessed daily across a one-week prospective period. Females reported more nightmares than males according to prospective assessment only. Controlling for sex and group, child sleep anxiety and presleep somatic arousal predicted parent but not child report of nightmares. Results suggest both clinically anxious youth and their parents overestimate the occurrence of nightmares, yet factors influencing retrospective accounts appear to differ across informants.
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 6
- Nightmares in Children with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and Their Typically Developing Peers Clocks & Sleep September 16, 2021
- The “Dream Changer”: a randomized controlled trial evaluating the efficacy of a parent-based intervention for childhood nightmares Sleep February 18, 2022
- Understanding and Treating Nightmares: A Comprehensive Review of Psychosocial Strategies for Adults and Children. Cureus September 1, 2024
- Nightmares in Children with FASD, ASD and Their Typically Developing Peers Preprints.org August 3, 2021
- A systematic review of Nightmare prevalence in children. Sleep Medicine Reviews October 1, 2023
and 1 more in the library