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A vast number of empirical findings support the continuity hypothesis of dreaming. Interestingly, research on that topic in adolescents is scarce. In a sample of 100 adolescents (50 female, 50 male) with a mean age 15.30 ± 0.80 years, it was found that for all six topics (watching TV, video gaming, social media use, engage in hobbies, caring for pets, and spending time with the partner), dream percentages of a specific topic was higher if the adolescents spent more time with this activity in waking life. Partner dreams and social media dreams were more frequent compared to adults, stressing the importance these issues have for adolescents. Future research can help to understand the well-being of adolescents by analyzing the emotional quality and content of their dreams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animal dreams have fascinated mankind for ages. Empirical research indicated that children dream more often about animals than adults and dogs, cats, and horses are the most frequent animals that appear within dreams. Moreover, most dreamer-animal interactions are negative. The present study included 4849 participants (6 to 90 yrs. old) reporting 2716 most recent dreams. Overall, 18.30% of these dreams included animals with children reporting more animal dreams that adolescents and adults. The most frequent animals were again dogs, horses, and cats; about 20% of the dream animals were in fact pets of the dreamers. About 30% of the dream animals showed bizarre features, e.g., metamorphosing into humans or other animals, bigger than in real life, or can talk. Taken together, the findings support the continuity hypothesis of dreaming but also the idea that dreams reflect waking-life emotions in a metaphorical and dramatized way. Future studies should focus on eliciting waking-life experiences with animals, e.g., having a pet, animal-related media consumption, and relating these to experiences with animals in dreams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the formulation of the continuity hypothesis in 1971, research findings have supported the thematic and emotional continuity between waking and dreaming. However, dreams that include experiences that never occurred in the dreamer's waking life, this is, discontinuous dreams, have not been studied extensively. In a long series (N = 11,575 dreams), elevator dreams (about 1% of the dreams) were analyzed whether they were continuous or discontinuous to the waking life of the dreamer. Although many elevator dreams are likely to reflect waking life, in over 40% of the elevator dreams the dreamer was using an elevator that showed unusual or even bizarre features, for example, elevator moving horizontally or flying, transforming into a subway, and so on. Often these dreams were associated with anxiety, and the question is whether these dreams—discontinuous on a thematic level—represent a continuity of emotions and/or are a metaphorical expression of the dreamer's waking life situation, for example, ups and downs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being something or someone else or being younger in dreams are quite rare topics. In this study, the relationship between boundary thinness and these topics was studied. A sample of 444 students completed the Typical Dream Questionnaire and the Boundary Questionnaire. As expected, persons with thin boundaries dreamed more often being something or someone else or being younger reflecting the traits associated with boundary thinness, for example, good memory for childhood experiences and fluid sexual identity. Although large dream samples would be necessary, the next step would be to look at dream content, for example, whether being someone or something else is related to positive or negative emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

La présente étude rend compte de la fréquence, du contenu et du ton émotionnel des rêves érotiques en se basant sur le journal intime des rêves d'un échantillon d'étudiants allemands. Quatre cent vingt-cinq élèves ont transmis 1612 rêves, dont environ 6 % portaient sur des thèmes érotiques, un chiffre conforme aux recherches antérieures. Quant au contenu du rêve, le baiser était l'activité érotique la plus fréquente, suivi des rapports sexuels et des préliminaires sexuels explicites. L'ouverture à l'expérience est positivement liée à la fréquence des rêves érotiques ; le neuroticisme et la conscience sont associés à une tonalité émotionnelle plutôt négative pour de tels rêves. Cela confirme l'hypothèse de continuité selon laquelle l'expérience érotique du rêve reflète l'activité sexuelle de la vie éveillée, qui est susceptible d'être influencée par ces dispositions de la personnalité. D'autres recherches devraient approfondir la connaissance des aspects et de l'intensité émotionnelle de l'activité sexuelle du moment où l'on se réveille et leurs reflets dans les rêves érotiques, c'est-à-dire si les événements sexuels indésirables et mal perçus sont associés au ton affectif des rêves érotiques. Pour étudier la causalité de la relation entre l'activité sexuelle éveillée et rêvée et les émotions qui y sont liées, une étude expérimentale serait une approche nécessaire. The present study reports about the frequency, content and emotional tone of erotic dreams based on dream diary reports of a German college student sample. Four hundred and twenty-five students provided 1612 dreams, of which about 6% contained erotic themes, a figure which is in line with previous research. As for the dream content, kissing was the most frequent erotic activity, followed by intercourse and explicit sexual foreplay. Openness to experience is positively related to the frequency of erotic dreams; neuroticism and conscientiousness are associated with a rather negative emotional tone of such dreams. This supports the continuity hypothesis stating that erotic dreaming experience reflects waking life sexual activity, which is likely to be influenced by these personality dispositions. Further research should extend the knowledge of the aspects and emotional intensity of waking life sexual activity and their reflection in erotic dream content, i.e., whether experiencing unwanted and negatively perceived sexual events are associated with the emotional tone of erotic dreams. To investigate the causality of the relation between waking and dreaming sexual activity and the emotions related to it, an experimental study would be a necessary approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study reports about the frequency, content and emotional tone of erotic dreams based on dream diary reports of a German college student sample. Four hundred and twenty-five students provided 1612 dreams, of which about 6% contained erotic themes, a figure which is in line with previous research. As for the dream content, kissing was the most frequent erotic activity, followed by intercourse and explicit sexual foreplay. Openness to experience is positively related to the frequency of erotic dreams; neuroticism and conscientiousness are associated with a rather negative emotional tone of such dreams. This supports the continuity hypothesis stating that erotic dreaming experience reflects waking life sexual activity, which is likely to be influenced by these personality dispositions. Further research should extend the knowledge of the aspects and emotional intensity of waking life sexual activity and their reflection in erotic dream content, i.e., whether experiencing unwanted and negatively perceived sexual events are associated with the emotional tone of erotic dreams. To investigate the causality of the relation between waking and dreaming sexual activity and the emotions related to it, an experimental study would be a necessary approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although gender differences in the dreams of adults have been studied extensively, large-scale studies in children and adolescents are scarce. The UK Library Study collected 1,995 most recent dreams of children and adolescents. Boys reported more physical aggression and fewer female characters in their dreams, whereas indoor settings were more prominent in girls' dreams, results that are consistent with the findings in adults and the continuity hypothesis of dreaming. The study indicates that dream content analysis is a valuable tool for studying the inner world of children and adolescents because dreams reflect their waking life experiences, thoughts, and concerns. It would be informative to include measures of waking life aggression, frequency of social contacts, and leisure time activities to provide evidence for direct links between waking and dreaming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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