A systematic review of Nightmare prevalence in children

Abstract

The purpose of this narrative review was to describe prevalence rates of nightmares and nightmare disorder in school-aged youth according to sample characteristics and methods used to assess nightmares. We searched PsychINFO, PubMed, and CINAHL databases to identify empirical peer-reviewed articles and grey literature published between 2001 and 2021. Sixty-nine studies from 23 countries were included. The prevalence of nightmares was between 1% and 11% in the past week and 25% to 35% in the past month in pediatric developmental samples and between 27% and 57% in the past week and 18%-22% in the past month in psychiatric samples. The prevalence of nightmare disorder was approximately between 3% and 6% in pediatric developmental samples and 10%-12% in psychiatric samples. Nightmare prevalence peaks between ages 10 and 14 then decreases with older age. Generally, prevalence was higher in girls than boys, and one study suggested gender divergence started around age 14. Children's self-reports were higher than parent reports, except in samples with comorbid psychiatric problems where there was more parent-child agreement. Inconsistencies in nightmare definitions and measurement were observed across the literature and indicate a need for standardized measurement of nightmares.

Keywords: Adolescents; Children; Nightmare disorder; Nightmare prevalence; Nightmares.