Gender Differences in a Content Analysis Study of 608 Dream Reports From Research Participants in the United States

Abstract

This investigation asked the question: "Are there significant content differences between male and female dream reports obtained in the United States?" Most of the 608 research participants provided dream reports (one per person) in response to a request from the senior author at dream seminars he gave between 1990 and 1996; the other dream reports were provided by friends and acquaintances of seminar participants. The total sample included 330 female and 278 male dream reports. Dreams were coded according to Hall-Van de Castle criteria on 53 categories, subcategories, and indices. The use of Cohen's h-statistic revealed several gender differences, most of which resembled those found by previous researchers.Since ancient times, dreams have been the focus of attention by both societies and individuals. They have been considered a means to foretell future events, as a means to communicate with spirits and deities, and as a way to make crucial SOCIAL

Dream Content in a Representative German Sample: Gender Differences and the Effects of other Socio-Demographic Variables

“…Findings based on nonstudent samples sometimes yielded different results; for example, Rubinstein and Krippner (1991) found no gender difference in the percentage of male dream characters in dreams of persons who answered a television announcement for free dream interpretation. Similar, the male/female percent of dream characters was comparable for men (58%) and women (57%) in the study of Krippner et al (1998) who recruited participants of dream seminars, mostly working adults. However, the dream samples of the non-student samples might also be biased, for example, the dream selected for dream analysis might not be representative for the dream life of this person.…”

A Preliminary Study on English and Welsh “Sacred Sites” and Home Dream Reports

“…One would expect that home dream reports would include more familiar persons and friends. One would also expect that home dreams would include more content items of any type given the familiar surroundings (Hall and Van de Castle 1966;Krippner and Weinhold 2002). The difference between the two groups illustrating this phenomenon is apparent in Table 2.…”

Cognitive Differences in Dream Content between English Males and Females Attending Dream Seminars Using Quantitative Content Analysis

“…The Hall-Van de Castle coding system has been used for a variety of purposes, and a large number of studies have yielded significant and repeatable findings on age differences, gender influences, cross-cultural differences, and diagnostic categories (e.g., Kane, Mellen, Patten, & Samano, 1993;Krippner, Lenz, Barksdale, & Davidson, 1994;Krippner, Posner, Pomerance, Barksdale, & Fischer, 1974;Krippner & Weinhold, 2002;Lortie-Lussier, Schwab, & De Konick, 1985).…”

“…For example, compared to males, females are more likely to report longer dreams (8% longer) that more frequently occur in indoor, residential settings that are familiar to the dreamer (Domhoff, 1996;Garfield,1988). Females also typically report a higher percentage of familiar characters and an equal number of male and female characters in their dreams compared to male dreamers (Brenneis, 1970;Hall & Van de Castle, 1966;Hall, Domhoff, Blick, & Weesner, 1982;Krippner & Weinhold, 2002). Further, female dreamers typically report more friendly interactions among dream characters, with less aggression and sexual activity than reported by male dreamers (Domhoff, 1996;Hall & Van de Castle, 1966;Hall et al, 1982;Krippner & Weinhold, 2002).…”