Kluwer Academic/Human Sciences Press, Inc., New York City

 Dreaming Volume 13, Number 4, December 2003
  

CONTENTS

Personal Problem-Solving Using Dream Incubation: Dreaming, Relaxation, or Waking Cognition?
Gregory L. White, Laurel Taytroe
Page 193
Available online

The Typical Dreams of Canadian University Students
Tore A. Nielsen, Antonio L. Zadra, Valérie Simard, Sébastien Saucier, Philippe Stenstrom, Carlyle Smith, Don Kuiken
Page 211

Content Analysis of German Students’ Dreams: Comparison to American Findings
Michael Schredl, Petra Ciric, Angelika Bishop, Eva Gölitz, Daniele Buschtöns
Page 237

Personal Boundaries and Nightmare Consequences in Frequent Nightmare Sufferers
Reinhard Pietrowsky, Martina Köthe
Page 245

Thank you, Referees!
Page 255

Announcements
Page 257

Gregory L. White and Laurel Taytroe

Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 13(4) 193-209, December, 2003.

Abstract

In Experiment 1, 96 frequent dreamers were randomly assigned to Control or Experimental conditions. All participants rated waking and dream moods over ten days and recorded their most vivid dream for each night. On the first and tenth day they rated the levels of distress and solvability of up to eight specific personal problems. After ten days they also rated degree of improvement and problem-solving effort for each nominated problem. All Experimental participants also cognitively reviewed one particular focal problem each day. Experimental participants were also randomly assigned to use either a dream incubation technique (Delaney, 1996) for this focal problem either just before sleep or just after morning wakening, or to use a simple relaxation technique either just before sleep or just after wakening. Night dream incubation participants were particularly likely to report reduced problem distress, greater problem solvability, and improvement in their focal problem. Daytime anxious and depressed moods of the night dream incubation participants decreased over ten days relative to Controls. In Experiment 2 participants predicted how they would have been affected by either night or morning incubation instructions used in Experiment 1. Results did not support an expectancy interpretation of Experiment 1.

KEY WORDS: dream incubation; problem-solving.

The Typical Dreams of Canadian University Students

Tore A. Nielsen, Antonio L. Zadra, Valérie Simard, Sébastien Saucier, Philippe Stenstrom, Carlyle Smith, and Don Kuiken

Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 13(4) 211-235, December, 2003.

Abstract

To investigate the dimensional structure of dreams, the Typical Dreams Questionnaire (TDQ) was administered to 1181 first-year University students in three Canadian cities. A profile of themes was found that varied little by age, gender or region; however, differences that were identified could be interpreted as due to developmental milestones, personality attributes or sociocultural factors. Factor analysis produced a solution consisting of 16 coherent factors that were differentially associated with demographic variables and that accounted for 51% of the variance. Women loaded primarily on negative factors (failure, loss of control, snakes-insects), men primarily on positive factors (magic-myth, alien life). Results support the concept of typical dream themes as consistent over time, region and gender and as reflecting the influence of fundamental dream dimensions that may be influenced by sociocultural, personality, cognitive or physiological factors.

KEY WORDS: dreaming; typical dreams; sex differences; personality factors.

Michael Schredl, Petra Ciric, Angelika Bishop, Eva Gölitz, and Daniele Buschtöns

Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 13(4) 237-243, December, 2003.

Abstract

Studies have demonstrated that general dream characteristics, such as gender ratio and familiarity of dream characters, frequency and type of social interactions and settings, and gender differences (e.g., heightened physical aggression in men’s dreams), are very stable over time and across different populations. The present study included 537 dreams of 106 women and 39 men (German students). The results confirmed earlier findings regarding the stability of general dream characteristics and gender differences. Only the gender difference regarding the gender ratio of dream characters has not been replicated; this finding might be explained by the relationship status (single vs. stable partnership) of the dreamers. The comparison of large dream samples may shed light on the similarities and differences between the inner worlds of people of different countries and cultures.

KEY WORDS: dream content; gender differences; cross-cultural differences; reliability.

Personal Boundaries and Nightmare Consequences in Frequent Nightmare Sufferers

Reinhard Pietrowsky and Martina Köthe

Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams. Vol 13(4) 245-254, December, 2003

Abstract

According to the boundary concept of Hartmann (1991), the occurence of nightmares was repeatedly shown to be correlated to thin personal boundaries. The present study investigated the relationship between boundary thinness and emotional, cognitive, and behavioral consequences of nightmares in frequent nightmare sufferers. Occurence of nightmares and their respective consequences were recorded daily during a 4-week period by diaries and questionnaires. Confirming previous results, frequent nightmare sufferers had significantly thinner personal boundaries than occasional nightmare sufferers, and nightmare frequency was positively correlated to boundary thinness. In frequent nightmare sufferers, the emotional and cognitive consequences of a nightmare as well as it’s possible explanations were correlated to boundary thinness; mainly the personal total score and the Boundary Questionnaire scales “sleep/wake/dreams,” “thoughts/feelings/mood” and “sensitivity”. The results indicate that although nightmare frequency is positively correlated to thin personal boundaries, only particular aspects of the concept of personal boundaries are correlated to emotional and cognitive consequences of the nightmares.

KEY WORDS: nightmares; nightmare frequency; personal boundaries; behavioral effects of nightmares.