Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Semester of Degree Completion

1996

Thesis Director

Russell E. Gruber

Abstract

This study involved the exploration of the Assertive/Vulnerable dimension of dreaming style. Assertiveness and Vulnerability, as characteristics of dreaming experience, were measured using the Dreaming Style Questionnaire-Revised that was derived from a revision of Gruber's 1988 Dreaming Style Questionnaire (DSQ.) For this study, the DSQ-R was administered to approximately 2500 participants. The structure, reliability, validity and waking correlates of the Assertive/Vulnerable scale of the DSQ-Revised was explored. Factor analysis replicated the Assertive/Vulnerable dreaming dimension, first uncovered by the original DSQ, as predicted, with the ten Assertive and Vulnerable items loading together to form one bi-polar factor. The exploration of sub-scales of the Assertive and Vulnerable dimensions were also replicated. The Assertive items formed sub-scales labeled Control, Power, Positive Emotion, and Success; while the Vulnerable items formed sub-scales labeled Lack of Control, Fear, Negative Emotion, and Failure. The results of test-retest procedures indicated a moderately high level of reliability (correlation's between .81 and .85.) Additionally, Alpha coefficients indicated good internal consistency for both Assertive and Vulnerable scales (.81 and .86 respectively.) Finally, an investigation of waking personality traits of groups of Assertive and Vulnerable dreamers revealed very similar findings to that of Gruber (1988.) Discriminant analyses identified significant differences between groups of both men and women at p < .0001. The resulting personality profiles provide support for the continuity of waking and dreaming experiences, as well as further supporting the validity of the Assertive/Vulnerable scale.

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