Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Oct 8;19(19):12900.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph191912900.

The Relationship between Nightmare Experience and Athletes' Personality Traits and Anxiety

Youteng Gan  1 , Ruohang Wang  1 , Jiangang Li  1 , Xueyu Wang  1 , Hongying Fan  1
Affiliations

The Relationship between Nightmare Experience and Athletes' Personality Traits and Anxiety

Youteng Gan et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Objective: Frequent nightmare behavior or deep nightmare experiences may harm the physical and mental health and performance of athletes. This study explores the nightmare experiences of athletes, and includes non-athletes with similar experiences for comparison.

Methods: The Nightmare Experience Questionnaire (NEQ); Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire, Shortened Form (ZKA-PQ/SF); and Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) were used. The subjects were 187 athletes (mean age = 20.44 years, SD = 0.85; 91 females, 96 males) and 90 non-athletes (mean age = 20.34 years, SD = 1.65; 52 females, 38 males) who reported having nightmares.

Results: A total of 87 athletes (46.5%) reported having nightmare experiences. The athlete nightmare group scored significantly higher in neuroticism than the non-nightmare group, and their anxiety scores were significantly higher than those of non-athletes, who scored higher in aggressiveness, neuroticism, and sensation seeking. Moreover, anxiety, neuroticism, and sensation seeking positively predicted athletes' nightmare experiences.

Conclusions: Personality traits and anxiety levels can be effectively applied to predict athletes' nightmare experiences.

Keywords: NEQ; SAS; ZKA-PQ/SF; negative dreams; stimulating experience.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose.

References

    1. Revonsuo A. The reinterpretation of dreams: An evolutionary hypothesis of the function of dreaming. Behav. Brain Sci. 2000;23:877–901. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X00004015. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Robert G., Zadra A. Thematic and content analysis of idiopathic nightmares and bad dreams. Sleep. 2014;37:409–417. doi: 10.5665/sleep.3426. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nielsen T., Levin R. Nightmares: A new neurocognitive model. Sleep Med. Rev. 2007;11:295–310. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2007.03.004. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Blagrove M., Farmer L., Williams E. The relationship of nightmare frequency and nightmare distress to well-being. J. Sleep Res. 2004;13:129–136. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2869.2004.00394.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hochard K.D., Ashcroft S., Carroll J., Heym N., Townsend E. Exploring Thematic Nightmare Content and Associated Self-Harm Risk. Suicide Life Threat. Behav. 2019;49:64–75. doi: 10.1111/sltb.12402. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types