Maternal representations in the dreams of pregnant women: a prospective comparative study
Dreams are thought to respond to self- and socially-relevant situations that evoke strong emotions and require rapid adaptation. First pregnancy is such a situation during which maternal mental representations (MMR) of the unborn baby, the self and significant others undergo remodelling. Some studie...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2013-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00551/full |
| _version_ | 1818026780907274240 |
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| author | Jessica eLara-Carrasco Jessica eLara-Carrasco Valérie eSimard Kadia eSaint-Onge Kadia eSaint-Onge Vickie eLamoureux-Tremblay Vickie eLamoureux-Tremblay Tore eNielsen Tore eNielsen |
| author_facet | Jessica eLara-Carrasco Jessica eLara-Carrasco Valérie eSimard Kadia eSaint-Onge Kadia eSaint-Onge Vickie eLamoureux-Tremblay Vickie eLamoureux-Tremblay Tore eNielsen Tore eNielsen |
| author_sort | Jessica eLara-Carrasco |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Dreams are thought to respond to self- and socially-relevant situations that evoke strong emotions and require rapid adaptation. First pregnancy is such a situation during which maternal mental representations (MMR) of the unborn baby, the self and significant others undergo remodelling. Some studies suggest that dreams during pregnancy contain more MMR and are more dysphoric, but such studies contain important methodological flaws. We assessed whether dreamed MMR, like waking MMR, change from 7 months to birth, and whether pregnancy–related themes and non-pregnancy characteristics are also transformed. Sixty non-pregnant and 59 pregnant women (37 early and 22 late 3rd trimester) completed demographic and psychological questionnaires and 14-day home dream logs. Dream reports were blindly rated and later analyzed following four dream categories: 1) Dreamed MMR, 2) Quality of baby/child representations, 3) Pregnancy-related themes, 4) Non-pregnancy characteristics. Controlling for age, relationship and employment status, education level and state anxiety, pregnant groups reported more dreams depicting themselves as a mother or with babies/children than did non-pregnant women (all p≤0.006). Baby/child representations were less specific in late 3rd than in early 3rd trimester (p=0.005) and than in non-pregnant women (p=0.01). Pregnant groups also had more pregnancy, childbirth and fetus themes (all p≤.01). Childbirth content was higher in late than in early 3rd trimester (p=0.01). Pregnant groups had more morbid elements than did the non-pregnant group (all p<.05). Dreaming during pregnancy appears to reflect daytime processes of remodelling MMR of the woman as a mother and of the unborn baby, and parallels a decline in the quality of baby/child representations in the last stage of pregnancy. More frequent morbid content in late pregnancy suggests that the psychological challenges of pregnancy are reflected in a generally more dysphoric emotional tone in dream content. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T04:37:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5aacbd668914428d8c4e04c41bd47c1f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T04:37:27Z |
| publishDate | 2013-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-5aacbd668914428d8c4e04c41bd47c1f2022-12-22T02:01:58ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782013-08-01410.3389/fpsyg.2013.0055156295Maternal representations in the dreams of pregnant women: a prospective comparative studyJessica eLara-Carrasco0Jessica eLara-Carrasco1Valérie eSimard2Kadia eSaint-Onge3Kadia eSaint-Onge4Vickie eLamoureux-Tremblay5Vickie eLamoureux-Tremblay6Tore eNielsen7Tore eNielsen8Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur de MontréalUniversité de MontréalUniversité de SherbrookeHôpital du Sacré-Coeur de MontréalUniversité de SherbrookeHôpital du Sacré-Coeur de MontréalUniversité de SherbrookeHôpital du Sacré-Coeur de MontréalUniversité de MontréalDreams are thought to respond to self- and socially-relevant situations that evoke strong emotions and require rapid adaptation. First pregnancy is such a situation during which maternal mental representations (MMR) of the unborn baby, the self and significant others undergo remodelling. Some studies suggest that dreams during pregnancy contain more MMR and are more dysphoric, but such studies contain important methodological flaws. We assessed whether dreamed MMR, like waking MMR, change from 7 months to birth, and whether pregnancy–related themes and non-pregnancy characteristics are also transformed. Sixty non-pregnant and 59 pregnant women (37 early and 22 late 3rd trimester) completed demographic and psychological questionnaires and 14-day home dream logs. Dream reports were blindly rated and later analyzed following four dream categories: 1) Dreamed MMR, 2) Quality of baby/child representations, 3) Pregnancy-related themes, 4) Non-pregnancy characteristics. Controlling for age, relationship and employment status, education level and state anxiety, pregnant groups reported more dreams depicting themselves as a mother or with babies/children than did non-pregnant women (all p≤0.006). Baby/child representations were less specific in late 3rd than in early 3rd trimester (p=0.005) and than in non-pregnant women (p=0.01). Pregnant groups also had more pregnancy, childbirth and fetus themes (all p≤.01). Childbirth content was higher in late than in early 3rd trimester (p=0.01). Pregnant groups had more morbid elements than did the non-pregnant group (all p<.05). Dreaming during pregnancy appears to reflect daytime processes of remodelling MMR of the woman as a mother and of the unborn baby, and parallels a decline in the quality of baby/child representations in the last stage of pregnancy. More frequent morbid content in late pregnancy suggests that the psychological challenges of pregnancy are reflected in a generally more dysphoric emotional tone in dream content.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00551/fullPregnancydreamingmaternal mental representationsspecificity of baby and child representationspregnancy-related themesdream emotions |
| spellingShingle | Jessica eLara-Carrasco Jessica eLara-Carrasco Valérie eSimard Kadia eSaint-Onge Kadia eSaint-Onge Vickie eLamoureux-Tremblay Vickie eLamoureux-Tremblay Tore eNielsen Tore eNielsen Maternal representations in the dreams of pregnant women: a prospective comparative study Frontiers in Psychology Pregnancy dreaming maternal mental representations specificity of baby and child representations pregnancy-related themes dream emotions |
| title | Maternal representations in the dreams of pregnant women: a prospective comparative study |
| title_full | Maternal representations in the dreams of pregnant women: a prospective comparative study |
| title_fullStr | Maternal representations in the dreams of pregnant women: a prospective comparative study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Maternal representations in the dreams of pregnant women: a prospective comparative study |
| title_short | Maternal representations in the dreams of pregnant women: a prospective comparative study |
| title_sort | maternal representations in the dreams of pregnant women a prospective comparative study |
| topic | Pregnancy dreaming maternal mental representations specificity of baby and child representations pregnancy-related themes dream emotions |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00551/full |
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