Nightmare Distress, Beliefs about Nightmares, and Personality

Abstract

A variety of factors contribute to nightmare distress; in addition to nightmare frequency also beliefs about nightmares can be associated with heightened nightmare distress. The study investigated the personality correlates of beliefs about nightmares and whether these beliefs mediate the relationship between gender, neuroticism, and nightmare distress. Overall, 1214 persons (716 women, 498 men) completed the dream questions and the Big Five Personality Inventory online. The beliefs about nightmares scale was related to neuroticism and openness to experience. However, the regression analysis indicated that a variety of factors like beliefs about nightmares, gender, neuroticism, and agreeableness contributed to nightmare distress independently from nightmare frequency. Given the marked influence of beliefs about nightmares on nightmare distress, it would be very interesting to study the effect of psycho-education presenting modern etiological models of nightmares on nightmare distress.