Abstract

Background: This research study is part of a larger study, which was intended to examine the manifest dream content and meaning representation in children and adults. This part of the study addressed the question, Are there any significant differences between children’s and adults dream reports obtained through the Dream Recording Booklet with respect to the content? And are there any gender differences between children and adult groups. Aim and Objectives: To study how does the dream experience (length, location, characters, social interactions, and emotions) change from childhood to adulthood.  Materials and Methods: To study the objective, the researcher adopted the methodology standardized by Margaret Bowman Howard of Iowa State University, Iowa, USA (1978), which in turn is based on the methodology developed by Hall and Van de Castle. The Dream Recording Booklet was circulated among the participants with clear instructions. Children were requested to recall and record their dreams just after the sunrise awakenings. Parents were asked to support reminding children about their daily recordings without interfering with the children’s dream experiences. In six to eight months, dream data was collected from all the children and adults in the sample. This home-based data collection method worked out very well in obtaining the data. Results: In our comparison of assertiveness between children and adults, we observed that children have a mean score of 3.31, accompanied by a standard deviation of 1.65. Adults, on the other hand, exhibit a higher mean score of 4.42, with a standard deviation of 1.15. The analysis yielded a t-value of 3.491 and a p-value of 0.0008. Since the p-value is below the threshold of 0.05, we can confidently conclude that there is a significant difference between the two groups. This leads us to reject the null hypothesis (H0), which posits that there is no substantial difference in the number of dreams experienced by children and adults. Instead, we accept the alternative hypothesis (H1), indicating that children and adults indeed differ in the number of dreams they experience. This insight can guide further research and discussions on the emotional and cognitive development of both age groups.  Conclusion: The findings of this study align with those of several other studies conducted by Avila-White, Schneider, & Domhoff, 1999; Oberst, Charles, & Chamarro, 2005; Saline, 1999; Strauch & Lederbogen, 1999. The scores obtained support the idea that cultural differences influence the dreams of both children and adults. As a result, dream content analysis plays a significant role in understanding the nature of dreams across different age groups.

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