Significance of Dreams among United Arab Emirates University Students

Abstract

Dreams are highly considered in Islamic societies because of religious factors. The aim of this study is to examine dream experinces and attitudes in a sample of university students at the United Arab Emirates University. Descriptive cross-sectional epidemiological survey. A questionnaire was randomly distributed among students, and those who consented for the study filled the questionnaire in the academic year 2006 /2007. The sample included 350 student, 135 males and 215 females. About half of the male and the majority of the female students had an experience from themselves or from close relatives related to dreams that come true. Dreams were taken seriously by a substantive group of the study sample. It affected their personal life; changing their daily plans and taking decisions in their social life in response to some dreams. It is recommended that a curriculum of studying dreams from both scientific and religious aspects should be considered in the academic syllabus.