Nightmares, life events and behaviour problems in preschool children.

A postal survey was carried out to identify nursery school children with frequent nightmares in an English city. Of the 22 children reported as suffering from frequent nightmares, 14 came from families who were willing to be interviewed further. A control group with no nightmares, matched for age and sex, was selected from the returns. The mothers of the children in the two groups were interviewed using the Preschool Behaviour Checklist and a life events scale. The results showed that neither life events nor behaviour problems were more prevalent in the frequent nightmares group.