Disturbing Dreams and Psychosocial Maladjustment in Children: A Prospective Study of the Moderating Role of Early Negative Emotionality
Although frequent disturbing dreams, including bad dreams and nightmares, have been repeatedly associated with poor psychological well-being in adults, considerably less information exists on their psychosocial correlates in children. Recent empirical and theoretical contributions suggest that the a...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Neurology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fneur.2020.00762/full |
| _version_ | 1818507581740548096 |
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| author | Aline Gauchat Aline Gauchat Antonio Zadra Mira El-Hourani Mira El-Hourani Sophie Parent Richard E. Tremblay Richard E. Tremblay Richard E. Tremblay Richard E. Tremblay Jean R. Séguin Jean R. Séguin |
| author_facet | Aline Gauchat Aline Gauchat Antonio Zadra Mira El-Hourani Mira El-Hourani Sophie Parent Richard E. Tremblay Richard E. Tremblay Richard E. Tremblay Richard E. Tremblay Jean R. Séguin Jean R. Séguin |
| author_sort | Aline Gauchat |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Although frequent disturbing dreams, including bad dreams and nightmares, have been repeatedly associated with poor psychological well-being in adults, considerably less information exists on their psychosocial correlates in children. Recent empirical and theoretical contributions suggest that the association between disturbing dream frequency and psychosocial adaptation in children may differ as a function of children's negative emotionality. The current study assessed the moderating effect of very early negative emotionality (17 months of age) in the relation between disturbing dream frequency and psychosocial maladjustment (i.e., externalizing + internalizing behaviors) in a sample of 173 11-year-old children. Mixed-model analyses revealed that disturbing dream frequency was associated with some internalizing behaviors but that the association between disturbing dream frequency and most externalizing behaviors was moderated by early negative emotionality. The latter result indicates that the relation between disturbing dream frequency and externalizing behaviors was significant in 11-year-old children showing moderate negative emotionality early in life, but particularly strong in those children with high early negative emotionality. Whereas, a moderating effect of early negative emotionality was not found between disturbing dream frequency and internalizing behaviors, the findings highlight the more specific role of early emotional negativity as a developmental moderator for the link between disturbing dreams and externalizing behaviors in children. The results are discussed in light of recent models of disturbed dreaming production. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T22:20:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-84e0be58e52b4c77883f3a25a3c2a3a7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-2295 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T22:20:16Z |
| publishDate | 2020-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Neurology |
| spelling | doaj.art-84e0be58e52b4c77883f3a25a3c2a3a72022-12-22T01:31:19ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Neurology1664-22952020-08-011110.3389/fneur.2020.00762519367Disturbing Dreams and Psychosocial Maladjustment in Children: A Prospective Study of the Moderating Role of Early Negative EmotionalityAline Gauchat0Aline Gauchat1Antonio Zadra2Mira El-Hourani3Mira El-Hourani4Sophie Parent5Richard E. Tremblay6Richard E. Tremblay7Richard E. Tremblay8Richard E. Tremblay9Jean R. Séguin10Jean R. Séguin11Clinique de Consultation Conjugale et Familiale Poitras-Wright, Côté, Longueuil, QC, CanadaDepartment of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, CanadaDepartment of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, CanadaDepartment of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, CanadaCHU Ste-Justine Research Center, Montreal, QC, CanadaSchool of Psychoeducation, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, CanadaDepartment of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, CanadaCHU Ste-Justine Research Center, Montreal, QC, CanadaDepartment of Pediatrics, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, CanadaSchool of Public Health, University College Dublin, Dublin, IrelandCHU Ste-Justine Research Center, Montreal, QC, CanadaDepartment of Psychiatry and Addictology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, CanadaAlthough frequent disturbing dreams, including bad dreams and nightmares, have been repeatedly associated with poor psychological well-being in adults, considerably less information exists on their psychosocial correlates in children. Recent empirical and theoretical contributions suggest that the association between disturbing dream frequency and psychosocial adaptation in children may differ as a function of children's negative emotionality. The current study assessed the moderating effect of very early negative emotionality (17 months of age) in the relation between disturbing dream frequency and psychosocial maladjustment (i.e., externalizing + internalizing behaviors) in a sample of 173 11-year-old children. Mixed-model analyses revealed that disturbing dream frequency was associated with some internalizing behaviors but that the association between disturbing dream frequency and most externalizing behaviors was moderated by early negative emotionality. The latter result indicates that the relation between disturbing dream frequency and externalizing behaviors was significant in 11-year-old children showing moderate negative emotionality early in life, but particularly strong in those children with high early negative emotionality. Whereas, a moderating effect of early negative emotionality was not found between disturbing dream frequency and internalizing behaviors, the findings highlight the more specific role of early emotional negativity as a developmental moderator for the link between disturbing dreams and externalizing behaviors in children. The results are discussed in light of recent models of disturbed dreaming production.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fneur.2020.00762/fulldisturbing dreamsnightmaresbad dreamsdreamingpsychosocial maladjustmenttemperament |
| spellingShingle | Aline Gauchat Aline Gauchat Antonio Zadra Mira El-Hourani Mira El-Hourani Sophie Parent Richard E. Tremblay Richard E. Tremblay Richard E. Tremblay Richard E. Tremblay Jean R. Séguin Jean R. Séguin Disturbing Dreams and Psychosocial Maladjustment in Children: A Prospective Study of the Moderating Role of Early Negative Emotionality Frontiers in Neurology disturbing dreams nightmares bad dreams dreaming psychosocial maladjustment temperament |
| title | Disturbing Dreams and Psychosocial Maladjustment in Children: A Prospective Study of the Moderating Role of Early Negative Emotionality |
| title_full | Disturbing Dreams and Psychosocial Maladjustment in Children: A Prospective Study of the Moderating Role of Early Negative Emotionality |
| title_fullStr | Disturbing Dreams and Psychosocial Maladjustment in Children: A Prospective Study of the Moderating Role of Early Negative Emotionality |
| title_full_unstemmed | Disturbing Dreams and Psychosocial Maladjustment in Children: A Prospective Study of the Moderating Role of Early Negative Emotionality |
| title_short | Disturbing Dreams and Psychosocial Maladjustment in Children: A Prospective Study of the Moderating Role of Early Negative Emotionality |
| title_sort | disturbing dreams and psychosocial maladjustment in children a prospective study of the moderating role of early negative emotionality |
| topic | disturbing dreams nightmares bad dreams dreaming psychosocial maladjustment temperament |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fneur.2020.00762/full |
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