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

• Published in: Frontiers in psychology Vol. 12; p. 652627
• Main Authors: Guerrero-Gomez, Ana, Nöthen-Garunja, Isabel, Schredl, Michael, Homberg, Annelore, Vulcan, Maria, Brusić, Asja, Bonizzi, Caterina, Iannaco, Cecilia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 20-04-2021
• Subjects: COVID-19 health crisis; dreaming; emotional distress; lockdown; nightmares; Psychology; school students; dreaming; COVID-19 health crisis; nightmares; emotional distress; adolescence; lockdown; school students
• ISSN: 1664-1078; 1664-1078
• DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.652627

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 (
= 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.