Neuroticism affects nightmare distress through rumination

Background/AimsThe role of neuroticism in predicting nightmare distress have been highlighted, and negative coping style may contribute to this relationship, but how these variables interact is limited. The present study aimed to explore how neuroticism and ruminative response contribute to producing nightmare distress, and to explore whether sex influences this relationship.MethodsWe recruited 758 university students, aged an average of 19.07. A moderated mediation model was built to examine the relationships among neuroticism, rumination, and nightmare distress (measured by dream anxiety scale), and explore whether sex could affect this relationship, using the SPSS PROCESS 3.5 macro.ResultsThe moderated mediation analyses results showed that ruminative response-depression related can significantly partially mediate the relationship between neuroticism and dream anxiety (beta = 0.32), dream anxiety-sleep-related disturbances (beta = 0.11) and dream anxiety-daytime dysfunctions (beta = 0.21). However, the moderating effects of sex were not significant in all path from neuroticism to dream anxiety.ConclusionThe study provides a novel architecture on the underlying psychological mechanisms of neuroticism and nightmare distress. This interplay is assumed to be facilitated by ruminations, suggesting that interventions for individuals who suffer from nightmares may focus on their repetitive negative response strategies, especially in people with high neuroticism, irrespective of sex differences.