Gender differences in dreams: do they reflect gender differences in waking life?

The present article briefly reviews the literature on gender differences in dream content. The results confirm earlier findings that men dream more often about men, physical aggression and sexuality than women. Womenʹs dreams, on the other hand, contain an equal proportion of male 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 and women are quite similar. These findings are related to meta-analyses compiling studies of gender differences in waking-life. Since men, for 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.