Np. Spanos et al., THE FREQUENCY AND CORRELATES OF SLEEP PARALYSIS IN A UNIVERSITY SAMPLE, Journal of research in personality, 29(3), 1995, pp. 285-305
In a sample of 1798 university undergraduates (females, n = 976; males
, n = 822) 21% reported one or more episodes of sleep paralysis, and t
here was no significant sex difference in this regard. Most (98.4%) sl
eep paralysis sufferers reported at least one psychological symptom (e
.g., hallucinations) accompanying their last (or only) episode. A tota
l of 190 sleep paralysis reporters and 221 controls who did not report
sleep paralysis were further tested on a battery of instruments that
assessed other sleep phenomena (e.g., nightmares), psychopathology, re
ported physical and sexual abuse, and imaginativeness. A composite ind
ex of imaginativeness predicted both the occurrence and frequency of s
leep paralysis and also the intensity of sleep paralysis symptomatolog
y. A salience hypothesis of sleep paralysis occurrence was developed t
o account for these findings. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.