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Dream content and psychological well-being: A longitudinal study of the continuity hypothesis

Nicholas Pesant, Antonio Zadra

Journal of Clinical Psychology 2005 DOI: 10.1002/jclp.20212 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Longitudinal study Peer reviewed
Sample size 28
Population Adults who kept dream logs and completed psychological well-being measures at two periods of their lives
Duration 6- to 10-year period
Topics Dreaming
Citations 94
Key findings Lower self-reported psychological well-being was associated with dreams containing more aggressive rather than friendly interactions, more negative than positive emotions, and to a lesser extent more failures and misfortunes than successes and good fortunes. Psychological well-being was also significantly related to dream content over a 6- to 10-year period. The authors state these findings are consistent with the continuity hypothesis.

Abstract

This longitudinal study tested the continuity hypothesis, which postulates that waking states and concerns are reflected in dreams. The relationship between dream content and negative waking affect was investigated both at fixed points in time and over a 6- to 10-year period. Twenty-eight participants completed measures of psychological well-being (PWB) and kept a dream log at two periods of their lives. Correlational analyses showed that the lower the participants' self-reported levels of PWB, the more their dreams tended to contain aggressive as opposed to friendly interactions, negative emotions as opposed to positive ones, and, to lesser extent, failures and misfortunes as opposed to successes and good fortunes. Similarly, PWB was significantly related to dream content over time. These findings are consistent with the continuity hypothesis.

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 44

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