The factor structure, reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the Van Dream Anxiety Scale

Abstract

Background/purpose

Dream emotions and contents are associated with psychological well-being. Dream disturbances, such as frequent nightmares and dream anxiety, are associated with a variety of psychopathological conditions. Therefore, it is important to consider nightmares and the resulting dream anxiety. To address this issue, the Van Dream Anxiety Scale (VDAS) was designed especially for measuring nightmare frequency and dream anxiety caused by frightening dreams. As a Chinese version of VDAS may be helpful in promoting study of nightmare and dream anxiety among Chinese population, in the current study, we sought to develop a Chinese version of the VDAS (CVDAS).

Methods

We translated the VDAS into Chinese. To evaluate its validity and reliability, a sample of 1,081 Chinese college students from two universities answered the CVDAS, GAD-7, PHQ-9 and EPQ-R-N. Ninety of them answered the CVDAS twice. We also conducted exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to explore the structure of CVDAS.

Results

Excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.926), split-half reliability (equal-length Spearman–Brown coefficient was 0.938) and good test–retest reliability (the intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.942 and t=−1.478, P=0.143) of the CVDAS was presented. Exploratory factor analyses indicated a two-factor structure: sleep-related disturbances caused by nightmares and dysfunction caused by nightmares. Convergent and divergent validities were acceptable.

Conclusion

The CVDAS shows promise for the measurement of nightmare frequency and specific dream anxiety in Chinese population. Future study should confirm the reliability and validity in the clinical population and further improve this scale.

Keywords:

• nightmare
• dream anxiety
• assessment
• Chinese population

Supplementary materials

Supplementary material S1

The Van Dream Anxiety Scale

The following questions relate to your dreams during the past month. These questions’ aim is to examine how your dreams affect your life. Please indicate the most accurate answer for each question.

Table

Reference

• AğargünMYKaraHBiliciMThe Van Dream Anxiety Scale: A Subjective Measure of Dream Anxiety in Nightmare SufferersSleep and Hypnosis199914
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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Ms. Wu Yan for her help in data collection and the college students for completion of the questionnaires. This research was supported by the New Xiangya Talent Project of the Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University (grant no 20150302).

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.