Continuity and change: The dreams of women throughout adulthood.

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine whether changes take place in the manifest content of women's dreams as a function of age and the psychosocial changes that mark their waking lives. Forty-seven women from three age groups (26 to 35, 36 to 45, 46 to 56) kept a dream diary and 87 of their dreams were content analyzed. Characters, settings, aggression, friendly interactions, activities, emotions, participation of the dreamer in her dreams, autonomy, achievement striving, themes and outcomes were the dream variables of interest, as they were expected to be significant indicators of increasing adaptive competence, productive energy, and masculinity orientation with advancing age. Results provided strong support for the productive energy hypothesis and mixed support for the adaptive competence one. The expected shift toward more male-typed imagery was not observed. Findings are discussed within the theoretical framework of women's development throughout adulthood.

The consistency and continuity hypotheses revisited through the dreams of women at two periods of their lives.

“…Continuity with waking life was reflected by the characters with whom dreamers interacted, by self-conceptions and concerns about significant others mainly drawn from the family and/or professional environment. Support for the continuity hypothesis was also drawn from studies which examined the influence of age (Côté, Lortie-Lussier, Roy, & De Koninck, 1996; Lortie-Lussier & Delorme, 1990), consistent with earlier investigations by Brenneis (1974) and Howe and Blick (1983).…”

“…Côté et al’s (1996) study, which compared the dreams of three groups of women ranging in age from the middle 20s to the middle 50s, is of particular relevance for the present one. Findings can be summarized as follows.…”

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

“…Several studies assessed dream content variables across age groups. Taken together, these studies indicate that when analyzed with the Hall and Van de Castle (H/V; 1966) coding system, dream content remains relatively stable throughout adulthood (e.g., Côté, Lortie-Lussier, Roy, & De Koninck, 1996;Domhoff, 1996;Hall, Domhoff, Blick, & Weesner, 1982;Lortie-Lussier et al, 2000). These data suggest the occurrence of few important changes in the overall content of people's dreams across time.…”

Dreaming as embodied simulation: A widower’s dreams of his deceased wife.

“…68–72 for a summary of these studies; Dudley & Fungaroli, 1987; Dudley & Swank, 1990; Hall, Domhoff, Blick, & Weesner, 1982; Tonay, 1990). Although the normative study and the replications are based on men and women who were much younger than Ed, both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies show that there are no changes in dream content with age once young adulthood is reached, except for evidence of a decline in aggressive interactions in men; this considerable similarity makes it feasible to use the men’s normative findings as a starting point in studying Ed’s dream reports (Côté, Lortie-Lussier, Roy, & De Koninck, 1996; Domhoff, 1996, Chapters 5 and 7; Hall & Domhoff, 1963, 1964; Zepelin, 1980, 1981).…”