Dreams of singles: effects of waking-life social contacts on dream content

The present study investigated dream content of singles in comparison to persons with stable partnerships. The participants (41 singles, 55 non-singles) kept a dream diary over a 2-week period. Findings clearly indicate that the relationship status affects dream content, e.g. partners were more often present in the dreams of the non-single group. Secondly, gender differences in dream content reported in the literature (male/female percent, sex themes) were only found in the single group. Therefore, the findings in this area should be re-evaluated. Future studies should include measures of life satisfaction, social competence and desire for a partnership in order to relate these variables directly to dream content.