GENDER DIFFERENCES IN DREAMS - DO THEY REFLECT GENDER DIFFERENCES IN WAKING LIFE

The present article briefly reviews the literature on gender differenc es in dream content. The results confirm earlier findings that men dre am more often about men, physical aggression and sexuality than women. Women's dreams, on the other hand, contain an equal proportion of mal e and female characters, more aggression turned inwardly and themes of depression. In regard to formal features, e.g., dream realism, dream length, occurrence of verbal and physical interaction, dreams of men a nd women are quite similar. These findings are related to meta-analyse s compiling studies of gender differences in waking-life. Since men, f or example, were found to be more aggressive in waking-life and women tend to be more vulnerable to depression, the assumption of continuity between waking-life and dreaming is supported. (C) 1998 Elsevier Scie nce Ltd. All rights reserved.