The Role of Sleep Problems and Negatively Charged dreams in Breakup-related Grief

Dorenbos, Maaike Johanna (2024) The Role of Sleep Problems and Negatively Charged dreams in Breakup-related Grief. Master thesis, Psychology.

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Abstract

Breakups can have a significant impact in peoples lives, possibly leading to symptoms of breakup-related grief. Research has suggested that sleep problems may disrupt emotional processing during sleep and therefore potentially play a role in breakup-related grief severity. The current study investigates if sleep problems are positively related to breakup-related grief severity and if the emotional experiences during sleep; dream valence explains additional variance in break-up related grief over and above sleep problems. A sample of 45 participants completed an online questionnaire assessing sociodemographic and breakup-related characteristics, sleep problems, breakup-related grief, and a dream questionnaire. Our results revealed a positive correlation between sleep problems and breakup-related grief; however, this relationship was no longer significant when controlling for the expectedness of the breakup and the time elapsed since the breakup. Contrary to our hypothesis, the emotional valence of dreams did not significantly predict breakup-related grief severity however, exploratory analyses indicated that the percentage of dreams involving the ex-partner since the breakup was a significant predictor of breakup-related grief. Our research highlights the potential importance of addressing both sleep quality and dream content in therapeutic approaches to breakup-related grief.

Item Type:	Thesis (Master)
Supervisor name:	Lang, T.A. de
Degree programme:	Psychology
Differentiation route:	Clinical Psychology (CP) [Master Psychology]
Date Deposited:	29 Oct 2024 09:56
Last Modified:	29 Oct 2024 09:56
URI:	http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/4426

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