What Do You Think About Your Dreams? The Construction of a Belief About Dreams Questionnaire

Figures & data

Table 1 Factor Loadings for BADQ Items in Pattern Matrix

Item Number and Description	Dream Omen and Health	Dream Superstition	Dream Meaninglessness	Dream Reality	Dream Attitude
20. I believe that dreams are a sign of something.	0.651	0.210	0.048	0.061	0.107
18. I believe that dreams are related to a dreamer’s health and mood state.	0.629	−0.187	−0.056	−0.197	−0.012
16. I believe that dream content can enlighten my real life.	0.618	0.060	−0.072	−0.021	0.119
19. I believe that images in dreams are symbolic.	0.564	0.194	−0.065	0.006	0.147
21. I believe that what we dreamed may happen.	0.555	0.259	0.001	−0.016	0.010
17. I believe that dreams can affect mental health.	0.476	−0.079	0.013	−0.011	0.013
23. I believe that dreams can inspire and enlighten me.	0.441	0.070	−0.031	−0.068	0.133
27. I believe that dreams are the enlightenment to people from gods or devils.	−0.128	0.875	0.040	−0.051	0.027
26. I believe that dreams are the source of superpowers.	0.006	0.834	0.000	−0.010	−0.030
29. I believe that dreams can reflect my previous lives.	0.005	0.793	0.018	0.001	0.019
28. I believe that dreams are my experiences in another parallel world.	0.035	0.751	0.006	−0.015	0.082
25. I believe that we can communicate with people who have passed away through dreams.	0.023	0.733	−0.011	−0.022	0.026
24. I believe that dreams are connected with the activity of the soul.	0.310	0.541	−0.108	−0.068	−0.065
15. I believe that dreams are the product of random neural firing and nothing more.	0.012	−0.046	0.834	−0.094	−0.047
13. I believe that people who believe in dreams are stupid	−0.034	0.004	0.806	−0.009	0.042
10. I do not pay attention to my dreams at all.	0.014	0.022	0.742	−0.012	−0.015
04. I believe that any dreams are totally unreal, and illusory.	0.072	0.004	0.661	0.150	0.052
22. I do not believe dreams can influence people in life in any form.	−0.036	0.014	0.435	−0.047	−0.046
02. I believe that dream content links with my experiences.	0.115	0.032	0.003	−0.769	−0.011
01. I believe that what you dream about at night reflects what you think about during the day.	−0.072	0.023	−0.011	−0.749	0.030
03. I believe that dreams can reflect the real life.	0.089	0.128	0.008	−0.607	0.108
05. I agree on that dream can reflect people’s subconsciousness.	0.130	−0.066	−0.035	−0.400	0.372
08. I would like to talk to others about my dreams.	−0.003	0.049	−0.012	0.079	0.855
07. I like dreaming.	−0.042	−0.065	−0.035	−0.090	0.766
06. I believe that dreaming is one of the most important ways to learn about yourself.	0.110	−0.020	−0.010	−0.170	0.644
09. I would like to recall my dreams.	0.099	0.091	−0.025	0.017	0.605

Note: Bold data indicates which factor the items belong to.

Table 2 Comparison of Fitting Indexed for Models 1 and 2 (N=704)

	χ^2	df	χ^2/df	RMSEA	GFI	CFI	IFI
Model 1	973.65	265	3.67	0.062	0.896	0.928	0.929
Model 2	916.69	264	3.47	0.059	0.903	0.934	0.934

Table 3 Pearson Intercorrelations Between BADQ Factors, Reliability and Divergent Validity

	1	2	3	4	5	α	ICC
1. Dream omen and health	–					0.848	0.713
2. Dream superstition	0.470**	–				0.902	0.467
3. Dream meaningless	−0.223**	−0.045*	–			0.821	0.521
4. Dream reality	0.588**	0.281**	−0.179**	–		0.836	0.497
5. Dream attitude	0.656**	0.380**	−0.251**	0.626**	–	0.868	0.505
6. CVDAS	0.150**	0.219**	−0.052	0.050	0.125**

Notes: *p<0.05, **p<0.01

Abbreviations: CVDAS, the Chinese version of Van Dream Anxiety Scale; ICC, interclass correlation coefficient.

Table 4 Mean Score for Males and Females and Gender Difference for Each Factor of BADQ

Factors	Total Sample (n=1408)	Female (n=802)	Male (n=606)	t-test
Dream omen and health	22.16 (4.36)	22.43 (3.94)	21.81 (4.84)	2.652**
Dream superstition	15.31 (4.43)	15.52 (4.19)	15.04 (4.71)	1.99*
Dream meaninglessness	13.77 (3.65)	14.14 (3.49)	13.29 (3.78)	4.35**
Dream reality	13.25 (3.09)	13.46 (2.88)	12.98 (3.33)	2.94**
Dream attitude	12.62 (3.17)	12.68 (3.30)	12.57 (3.07)	0.66

Notes: *p<0.05, **p<0.01.

Table 5 Comparison Between Different Dreamers Profiles

	Indifferent Dreamers	Interested Dreamers	t-test
Dream omen and health	18.31 (4.33)	23.76 (3.23)	−25.93**
Dream superstition	11.72 (3.45)	16.80 (3.91)	−22.89**
Dream meaninglessness	14.57 (3.74)	13.44 (3.55)	5.36**
Dream reality	10.93 (2.89)	14.21 (2.63)	−20.68**
Dream attitude	9.67 (2.46)	13.84 (2.58)	−28.01**
DRF	2.74 (2.53)	4.06 (3.77)	−2.85*
BDF	2.89 (1.23)	3.31 (1.48)	−4.23**
NF	2.42 (1.02)	2.65 (1.23)	−2.79*
CVDAS	4.50 (6.04)	6.29 (7.31)	−4.37**
PHQ-9	8.24 (5.31)	9.91 (5.56)	−5.17**
GAD-7	5.92 (4.43)	7.31 (4.98)	−4.93**

Notes: *p<0.05, ** p<0.01.

Abbreviations: DRF, dream recall frequency; BDF, bad dream frequency; NF, nightmare frequency; CVDAS, the Chinese version of Van Dream Anxiety Scale; PHQ-9, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9; GAD-7, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 Questionnaire.