On the Psychometric Properties of Retrospective Dream Content Questionnaires

Abstract

The present study examined the psychometric properties of retrospective questionnaires as measures of dream experience. One hundred and six university students filled out a dream content questionnaire and kept a fourteen-day dream diary on two separate occasions, in addition to completing two trait personality inventories and measures of spatial ability and imaginativeness. The dream content questionnaire's reliability was acceptable, as was its discriminant and construct validity. In contrast, dream diary content was inconsistent over time and unrelated to personality traits. The questionnaire's concurrent validity could not be adequately appraised due to this inconsistency in diary content. The results suggest that greater attention must be paid to the psychometric properties of all measures of dream content. In addition, prior problems with mapping the relationship between personality and dream content may be due to measurement issues.