Background:
Psychological functions of night dream sharing and underlying motivations remain inadequately understood. This study explored night dream sharing and its associations with stress coping strategies among Japanese university students, considering cross-cultural differences with China.


Methods:
Participants were 857 Japanese students. Dream recall (M=3.73, SD=1.49), nightmare recall (M=3.34, SD=1.75), dream sharing (M=3.05, SD=1.93), problem-focused (M=22.45, SD=1.78), emotion-focused (M=30.05, SD=4.55), and avoidant coping (M=16.71, SD=3.31) were assessed.


Results:
Japanese students reported greater use of emotion-focused coping, whereas Chinese students reported higher dream recall, nightmare recall, and dream sharing. No significant differences were found for problem-focused or avoidant coping. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that emotion-focused coping was the only significant positive predictor of dream sharing among Japanese students. Friends, mothers, and siblings were common recipients. Positive dreams were most frequently shared, and recipients generally responded favorably. However, cultural differences emerged in dream content: Japanese participants tended to share more positive dreams, whereas Chinese participants more frequently shared neutral dreams.


Conclusion:
For Japanese students, night dream sharing may function not only as an emotional coping strategy but also as a means of strengthening social bonds during stressful situations.