Dream Structure Characteristics of Modern Japanese People

A Focus on Differences with Age

Abstract

In Japan, most clinical research on dreams has focused on the contents of the dreams. In recent years, the significance of dream structure has also been suggested, but there has been little research and few case studies in this area. The objective of this study was to examine differences in the dream structure of Japanese people based on age and gender. Descriptions of dreams provided online by 392 participants in their 20s to 70s were examined by multiple regression analysis. The results showed many differences based on age, but not on gender. Older participants experienced significantly fewer “occurrence of difficult situations”, “others have initiative”, “approach by others”, “interaction with others”, “lack of continuity in others’ situations”, “ambiguity in others’ identities”, “inability to control one’s own actions”, and “lack of continuity in one’s own situation”, whereas “subjective actions” and “subjective description” were significantly more common in older people.