A content analysis of emotion-words in the most recent dream reports of young adults
Leemamol Mathew, Mishita Nanda, Sneha S Kumar
International Journal of Dream Research January 18, 2026 DOI: 10.11588/ijodr.2026.2.114943 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 68 |
| Population | Young adults |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Key findings | Negative emotions were present in 68% of dream reports and positive emotions in 32%. Of 199 coded emotion-related words, 136 expressed negative emotions and 63 positive. Fear was the most common emotion, followed by happiness. |
Abstract
Despite a heavy emphasis on emotions in dreams, considerably less information is available on the pattern of emotional content in the most recent dreams. The present study examined this pattern among young adults. MRD reports were collected from 68 participants: 47 provided reports offline, on paper, and 21 used a Google Form. The dream report was rated as a whole in the first phase to determine whether emotion content was present. Negative emotions were present in 68% of the dream reports, while 32% had positive emotions. Next-level analysis identified every instance of emotional content in the report. A total of 199 words related to emotions were coded, including 136 expressing negative emotions and 63 expressing positive emotions. Finally, the identified contents were classified into different families following Daniel Goleman’s family of emotions - Anger, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, Happiness, Love, Surprise, and Shame/Jealousy. This categorization enabled the identification of dominant emotional patterns in young adults’ dreams, with fear emerging as the most common emotion, followed by happiness. Future research could further explore how emotional content in dreams relates to emotional processing in everyday life.