A study of young adults in China found that experiences of emotional abuse and neglect during childhood are associated with a higher frequency of nightmares and bad dreams. The analysis suggested that rumination may play a mediating role in this relationship, while perceived social support can moderate the strength of the link. The paper was published in Dreaming.
Emotional abuse refers to behaviors that harm an individual’s self-worth or emotional well-being, including verbal attacks, humiliation, intimidation, or persistent criticism. It often occurs in close relationships and can be subtle, making it difficult to recognize. Emotional neglect, in contrast, involves the failure to provide emotional support, affection, and attention, which can leave a person feeling unimportant or unloved.
Both emotional abuse and neglect can have long-lasting psychological effects. Victims may struggle with anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and difficulties in forming healthy relationships. Unlike physical abuse, emotional maltreatment leaves no visible marks, but it can profoundly impact a person’s identity and sense of security. Prolonged exposure to emotional trauma may even alter brain development and increase vulnerability to mental health disorders.
The study, led by Bingbing Lin and colleagues, aimed to investigate how emotional abuse and neglect relate to the frequency of disturbed dreams. Disturbed dreams include both nightmares, which wake the sleeper, and bad dreams, which do not cause awakening but still evoke negative emotions.
Participants included 847 students from two universities in the Chinese provinces of Fujian and Guangdong. Of these, 365 were male. Ages ranged from 17 to 22 years, with an average age of 19.
Participants completed standardized assessments measuring childhood trauma (using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire), rumination (via the Rumination-Reflection Questionnaire), perceived social support (using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support), and the frequency of disturbed dreaming.
Results showed that 28% of participants reported no disturbed dreaming in the past year. Around 31% had disturbed dreams less than once a month, and 23% experienced such dreams one to two times per month. Notably, 2% reported having disturbed dreams every night.
Those who reported more severe experiences of emotional abuse and neglect also reported more frequent disturbed dreaming. These individuals were also more likely to engage in rumination and to report lower levels of perceived social support. The researchers tested a statistical model proposing that childhood emotional abuse and neglect increase rumination, which in turn contributes to more frequent disturbed dreaming. The results supported this proposed pathway.
Further analysis revealed that perceived social support moderated the relationship between rumination and disturbed dreaming. Specifically, individuals with low levels of perceived social support showed a stronger association between rumination and disturbed dreaming. In contrast, for individuals with high perceived social support, the link between rumination and dream disturbance was weaker or non-significant.
“Emotional abuse and neglect positively predicted the disturbed dreaming frequency. Rumination played a mediating role between emotional abuse and neglect and disturbed dreaming frequency. Emotional abuse and neglect positively predicted rumination and rumination positively predicted disturbed dreaming frequency. Perceived social support played a moderating role between rumination and disturbed dreaming frequency. As the level of perceived social support increased, the positive prediction effect of rumination on disturbed dreaming frequency gradually weakened,” the study authors concluded.
The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the links between childhood experiences and dreaming. However, it should be noted that the design of the study does not allow any causal inferences to be derived from the results.
The paper, “The Effect of Childhood Emotional Abuse and Neglect on Disturbed Dreaming Frequency: The Important Role of Rumination and Perceived Social Support,” was authored by Bingbing Lin, Ziqing Ye, Yiduo Ye, Kunyan Wang, and Yuanjun Zhang.