Children have more nightmares because a child's brain is still developing and processes strong emotion and vivid experiences which makes it harder to distinguish reality between fantasy.

Nightmares Nightmares are a type of parasomnia, which are disruptive sleep-related conditions. They can develop for many reasons, including:

• Stress and anxiety: Everyday pressures, such as difficulties at school or home, can lead to nightmares. Major life events like moving or losing a loved one may also trigger them. People who experience anxiety are more likely to have frequent nightmares.

• Trauma: Nightmares commonly occur after traumatic experiences such as accidents, injuries, or physical or sexual abuse. They are especially prevalent among individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

• Lack of sleep: Irregular sleep schedules, insufficient sleep, or frequent awakenings can increase the likelihood of nightmares. Insomnia is strongly linked to a higher risk.

• Medications: Certain medications—including some antidepressants, blood pressure drugs, beta blockers, Parkinson’s medications, and smoking-cessation drugs—may cause nightmares as a side effect.

• Substance use: Alcohol and recreational drugs are known to provoke nightmares.

• Other health conditions: Mental health disorders such as depression are often associated with nightmares. They may also occur alongside medical conditions like heart disease or cancer, as well as other sleep disorders that disrupt normal rest.

• Scary media: Reading frightening books or watching horror or R-rated movies, especially before bedtime, can contribute to nightmares in some individuals.

According to John Winkelman, MD, PhD, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a sleep disorder specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital, night terrors are often not remembered because they occur during slow-wave sleep. During this stage, the neocortex—the part of the brain responsible for higher-level thinking—is less active. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Center for PTSD explains that post-traumatic nightmares often contain themes or details that resemble the original traumatic event.

Our independent variables were the gender and age of each subject. Our controlled variables were the number of subjects and number of notebooks. Our dependant variables were the number of nightmares and averages of the nightmares.

The experiment was conducted over a period of about a month, from December 19 to January 21. We invited 8 participants of different ages and genders to log all their nightmares in the notebooks below. Each participant was instructed to write down the date of the nightmare, rate its intensity on a scale of one to ten, and describe what happened in as much detail as they could remember. At the end of Winter Break, we collected all the notebooks for analysis.

We found out from the presented data that, first of all, females are more likely to have nightmares than males because they have a higher chance of anxiety or depression, which causes nightmares, better memory of the nightmare, and societal factors that promote emotional expression. Secondly, children have a higher chance of experiencing more nightmares than adults, but don’t typically experience worse ones.

We also found that the adults had more stress-related nightmares about work and their kids, while the children had more nightmares about villains, monsters, being kidnapped, and being left at school.

Children

|
| Age | Gender | Nightmares | | --- | --- | ------ | ---------- | | Subject 1C | 6 | Female | 7 | | Subject 2C | 8 | Male | 0 | | Subject 3C | 10 | Male | 1 | | Subject 4C | 11 | Female | 6 | | Subject 5C | 14 | Male | 0 |

Female children average: 6.5 Male children average: 0.333 

Adults

|
| Age | Gender | Nightmares | | --- | --- | ------ | ---------- | | Subject 1A | 41 | Female | 1 | | Subject 2A | 49 | Male | 1 | | Subject 3A | 50 | Female | 4 | | Subject 4A | 50 | Male | 0 | | Subject 5A | 51 | Female | 1 |

Female adult average: 2 Male adult average: 0.5 

Overall female average: 3.8 Overall male average: 0.4

The Outcome

After our experiment, we collected the notebooks and read the contents inside each one. We found out from the presented data that, first of all, females are more likely to have nightmares than males because they have a higher chance of anxiety or depression, which causes nightmares, better memory of the nightmare, and societal factors that promote emotional expression. Secondly, children have a higher chance of experiencing more nightmares than adults, but don’t typically experience worse ones.

We also found that the adults had more stress-related nightmares about work and their kids, while the children had more nightmares about villains, monsters, being kidnapped, and being left at school.

It applies to people who have parasomnias and nightmares, research about nightmares to make people more aware, and how it can help them with their nightmares if they get out of hand.

Our sources of error were; The loss of notebooks, incorrect calculations at first, and getting off task. We fixed all the errors we noticed before the school science fair.

References Nightmare Disorder: What It Is, Symptoms & Treatment. (2022, November 21). Cleveland Clinic. Retrieved February 5, 2026, from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24464-nightmare-disorder Nightmares and the Brain | Harvard Medical School. (1982\, September 19). Harvard Medical School. Retrieved February 5\, 2026\, from https://hms.harvard.edu/news-events/publications-archive/brain/nightmares-brain Saleh, N. (2019, June 21). 15 Frightful Facts About Nightmares. Psychology Today. Retrieved February 5, 2026, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/the-red-light-district/201906/15-frightful-facts-about-nightmares

We would like to thank; Tom Ruan, Ying Lu, Moon Kim, Bernard Winkelmann, Noah Winkelmann, Ken Ruan, Kara, Ben, and Maddie for their generous participation in our study, and being the role of the subjects (The people who gave us our data). We would like to thank; Moon Kim, and Bernard Winkelmann for giving us a pleasant workspace. Lastly we would like to thank; Heather Lai for giving us this opportunity.