Dreaming in Adolescents During the COVID-19 Health Crisis: Survey Among a Sample of European School Students

Abstract

According to the continuity hypothesis of dreaming and contemporary psychodynamic approaches, dreams reflect waking life. The aim of the present study was to explore the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and dreaming in adolescents. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Italy, Romania and Croatia involving 2,105 secondary school students (69% girls, mean age 15.6 ± 2.1 years; 31% boys, mean age 15.1 ± 2.2 years; mean age of whole sample 15.4 ± 2.1 years). No substantial differences between countries were found. Thirty-one percent of the participants reported heightened dream recall, 18% noticed an increase in nightmares during the lockdown, and 15% of the provided dreams (n = 498) included pandemic-related content. The results indicate that subjective emotional reactions to lockdown had a significantly higher correlation to dreaming than objective distress (i.e., illness or death of a close one because of COVID-19). These findings suggest that attention to dreams should be included in preventive programs for adolescents with pandemic-related stress.

Dreaming during the COVID-19 pandemic: A narrative review

“…Changes in oneiric phenomenology during the pandemic compared to a non-pandemic condition were assessed with different methods: direct questions about the perception of pandemic-related changes in dreams ( Schredl and Bulkeley, 2020 , Guerrero-Gomez et al, 2021 ) and nightmares ( Pesonen et al, 2020 , Guerrero-Gomez et al, 2021 ), retrospective scoring of dream features ( Conte et al, 2022 , Gorgoni et al, 2021a , Fränkl et al, 2021 , Solomonova et al, 2021 , Scarpelli et al, 2022b ) and nightmare features ( Musse et al, 2020 , Solomonova et al, 2021 , Scarpelli et al, 2022b ) before and during the pandemic, comparison with a population-based pre-pandemic sample ( Scarpelli et al, 2021a , Kilius et al, 2021 ), and comparison with a non-pandemic control group ( MacKay and DeCicco, 2020 , Mota et al, 2020 , Wang et al, 2021 ). Changes in dream frequency during the pandemic in the general population were reported by several studies ( Schredl and Bulkeley, 2020 , Conte et al, 2022 , Gorgoni et al, 2021a , Fränkl et al, 2021 , Scarpelli et al, 2021a , Solomonova et al, 2021 , Scarpelli et al, 2022b ).…”

Nightmare content during the COVID‐19 pandemic: Influence of COVID‐related stress and sleep disruption in the United States

“…The COVID‐19 pandemic has affected sleep and dreams for many individuals and has been linked to changes in mental health, lifestyle habits and social interactions (Pérez‐Carbonell et al, 2020 ; Shillington et al, 2021 ). Insomnia severity during this time has been linked to suicide ideation (Killgore et al, 2020 ) and much of the anxiety and stress associated with health and general well‐being has played out in dreams and nightmares with pandemic‐related themes (Guerrero‐Gomez et al, 2021 ; MacKay & DeCicco, 2020 ; Mota et al, 2020 ; Ruby, 2021 ).…”

“…This was also seen in a Brazilian study that analyzed dream themes and found a higher proportion of themes around contamination and cleanliness (Mota et al, 2020), and in a Finnish study where participants reported more night-time awakenings and nightmares as compared to pre-pandemic times, with over 50% of these nightmares about pandemic-specific themes, including sickness, physical distancing and family concerns (Pesonen et al, 2020). Among adolescents living in Italy, Croatia and Romania, an increase in nightmares and dreams with pandemic-related themes were also reported (Guerrero-Gomez et al, 2021).…”

Dream Recall Frequency, Lucid Dream Frequency, and Personality During the Covid-19 Pandemic

“…As Covid-19-related worries were not related to dream recall frequency, it is very likely that the subjectively reported increases in dream recall frequency due to the pandemic ( Fränkl et al, 2021 ; Guerrero-Gomez et al, 2021 ; Schredl & Bulkeley, 2020 ; Solomonova et al, 2021 ) might not be explained by direct effects of the pandemic itself on dream life but by indirect effects, for example, changes in sleep behavior due to lock-downs ( Gorgoni et al, 2021 ; Scarpelli et al, 2021 ), e.g., home schooling and home office increased sleep duration in some parts of the population ( Bottary et al, 2020 ) whereas, on the other hand, sleep problems including more frequent nocturnal awakenings were also reported more often during the pandemic ( Dal Santo et al, 2021 ). That is, longer sleep duration ( Schredl & Fulda, 2005 ), on the one hand, and insomnia and frequent nocturnal awakenings ( Schredl et al, 1998 ), on the other hand, are related with higher dream recall frequency.…”

“…The main objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between the Big Five personality factors, dream recall frequency, and lucid dream frequency in a new and independent sample. However, as the survey was carried out during the Covid-19 pandemic, we had the opportunity to explore whether the presence and intensity of Covid-19-related anxiety is related to dream recall frequency and/or lucid dream frequency as a substantial number of studies ( Fränkl et al, 2021 ; Guerrero-Gomez et al, 2021 ; Schredl & Bulkeley, 2020 ; Solomonova et al, 2021 ) reported an increased dream recall frequency due to the pandemic in a substantial percentage of the population. For focusing on the main objective of the study, we included this COVID-19 related variable in the regression analysis in order to control for possible confounding effects.…”