Targets of erotic dreams and their associations with waking couple and sexual life.

Abstract

Erotic dreams are common, but the ways in which they reflect waking day romantic relationships remain understudied. We examined the targets of erotic dreams reported by 470 men and 575 women in a romantic relationship as well as the associations between these targets and measures of couple and sexual life. Over 95% of all participants reported having erotic dreams. Women were more likely than men to report that their erotic dreams included their current partner, whereas men were more likely to report dreaming of someone other than their current partner, especially an acquaintance. Logistic regression analyses revealed that individuals in relationships of longer duration, with higher relationship satisfaction, greater sexual desire, and higher frequency of sexual intercourse with their partner were more likely to report erotic dreams involving their partner, whereas participants in relationships of shorter duration and with lower relationship satisfaction were more likely to report erotic dreams involving an ex-partner. Individuals reporting extradyadic sexual behaviors were less likely to have erotic dreams involving their current partner and more likely to dream about an ex-partner or an acquaintance. These results are consistent with the continuity hypothesis of dreaming showing that dream content tends to reflect waking thoughts and concerns.