Adolescent boundary structure and dream content

Abstract

Hartmann (1991) recently developed the Boundary Questionnaire which measures the structure of one's ego boundaries. Hartmann, Elkin, & Garg (1991) demonstrated that boundary structure was a significant predictor of several facets of dream content among adults. To date, the relationship between boundary structure and dream content has not been examined among adolescents. The present study determined the extent to which boundary structure would predict adolescent dream content. As predicted, the dreams of thin boundary adolescents contained a significantly greater amount of primary process mentation and instances of boundary disruption than did the dreams of thick-boundary adolescents. Boundary structure was found to be a weak predictor of The Hall & Van de Castle (1996) dream content variables. Additionally, the dream content of male adolescents differed from the dream content of female adolescents in manners consistent with adult findings. Findings are discussed within the framework of adolescent ego development.