Studies indicate that male dreams ...

(1) contain more aggression and money than their female counterparts.

(2) concern misfortunes to the dreamer more often than other characters in their dreams.

(3) contain more male characters than women's dreams.

Female Dreams

(1) Female dreams are more emotional.

(2) Working mothers experienced more unpleasant emotions, male characters, and indoor settings than those of nonworking mothers.

(3) Women's dreams contain a higher number of family members, babies, children, and indoor settings.

PREGNANCY AND DREAMS

Dream researchers have noted glaring differences for the dreams of pregnant women, for example ...

(1) more dreaming.

(2) able to recall dreams more easily than any other group.

(3) the content of dreams is unusually vivid and rich in detail, bizarre, and often nightmarish.

(4) more often have to do with their mothers,

(5) Lush growth of plants, flowers, and gardens (possibly to represent fertility).

Expectant mothers consistently assign the same meaning to specific images. Small animals represent the unborn child (kittens, puppies, bunnies, etc.).

In a 1972 study by Carolyn Winget and Frederick Kapp, it was found that women who had nightmares more often had labor of shorter duration than those who had fewer nightmares.

In another study it was found that those women who were assertive in their nightmares had significantly shorter labors than those who were often victimized in such dreams.

There is an impressive body of information that indicates new mothers dreamed correctly about their babies' sex, appearance, and personality.

People should be alert to problems with their pregnancy when they have dreams about stillbirths or other complications.

Return to top of page | Home |