The most recent dreams of 12–13 year-old boys and girls: A methodological contribution to the study of dream content in teenagers.

Abstract

The present study shows that the Most Recent Dream Method developedfor the efficient and economical collection of dream reports from adults can be extended to suburban Caucasian 12-13 year-old boys and girls. A content analysis of 162 Most Recent Dreams from girls and 110 Most Recent Dreamsfrom boys using the Hall and Van de Castle (1996) coding system revealed the same general pattern of gender similarities and differences found in the dream content of young adults. A comparison of the present results with those from participants between the ages of 11-13 and with a similar social background in two longitudinal studies showed several similarities in dream content. The overall findings thus suggest that the Most Recent Dream Method may provide a reasonably representative sample of dream reports from teenagers if at least 100 to 125 Most Recent Dreams are collected for each age group. making cross-sectional developmental studies of teenagers' dreams feasible if the cooperation of a school system can be enlisted. Suggestions for other kinds of studies using Most Recent Dreams from teenagers are also discussed.

Gender Differences in the Dream Content of Children and Adolescents: The UK Library Study

“…Girls reported dreams more often than boys -replicating a previous study eliciting reports of bad dreams (Schredl & Pallmer, 1998) and also reflecting the heightened dream recall frequency found in girls (Schredl & Reinhard, 2008). Girls also reported longer dream reports which have also been reported previously in children/adolescents (Avila-White et al, 1999;Schredl & Pallmer, 1998;Strauch, 2005) and adults (Schredl, Paul, Lahl, & Göritz, 2010-2011. In this respect the present findings seem to be valid as they are in line with the literature.…”

“…Whereas the gender differences in dream content of adults are quite well established (Schredl, 2007), similar studies in children are relatively scarce. In children older than 10 years, most gender differences are comparable to those in adults, i.e., increased physical aggression in boys and higher percentage of indoor settings in girls (Avila-White, Schneider, & Domhoff, 1999;Crugnola, Maggiolini, Caprin, De Martini, & Giudici, 2008;Domhoff, 1996;Karagianni et al, 2013;Oberst, Charles, & Chamarro, 2005;Strauch & Lederbogen, 1999). Girls' dreams contain a balanced proportion of male and female dream persons, whereas boys' dreams are dominated by male dream persons (Avila-White et al, 1999;Domhoff, 1996;Foulkes, 1982;Foulkes, Hollifield, Sullivan, Bradley, & Terry, 1990;Karagianni et al, 2013;Siegel, 2005;Strauch, 2005;Strauch & Lederbogen, 1999) -findings similar to the findings in adults.…”

Influence of gender and age in aggressive dream content of Spanish children and adolescents.

“…Avila-White et al (1999) have argued that this procedure provides a representative sample of dream reports not only from adults but also from teenagers.…”

Contextualized emotional images in children's dreams: Psychological adjustment in conditions of military trauma

“…Results are also discrepant concerning the level and role of aggression in childhood and adulthood dreams. Some researchers have found that the dreams of preadolescent children have more aggressive acts than the dreams of adults (Avila-White et al, 1999;Domhoff, 1996;Strauch & Lederbogen, 1999), whereas others maintain that the level of aggression in children's dreams is lower (Foulkes, 1982).…”