THE FREQUENCY AND CORRELATES OF SLEEP PARALYSIS IN A UNIVERSITY SAMPLE

In a sample of 1798 university undergraduates (females, n = 976; males, n = 822) 21% reported one or more episodes of sleep paralysis, and there was no significant sex difference in this regard. Most (98.4%) sleep paralysis sufferers reported at least one psychological symptom (e.g., hallucinations) accompanying their last (or only) episode. A total of 190 sleep paralysis reporters and 221 controls who did not report sleep paralysis were further tested on a battery of instruments that assessed other sleep phenomena (e.g., nightmares), psychopathology, reported physical and sexual abuse, and imaginativeness. A composite index of imaginativeness predicted both the occurrence and frequency of sleep paralysis and also the intensity of sleep paralysis symptomatology. A salience hypothesis of sleep paralysis occurrence was developed to account for these findings. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.