Characteristics of Preschool and School-Age Children with Imaginary Companions

Paula Bouldin · Chris Pratt

63 citations0/0 files storedThe Journal of Genetic Psychology

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Abstract

The authors investigated the prevalence and characteristics of children who experience or who have experienced imaginary companions. For the study, a self-administered questionnaire that sought information regarding the characteristics of children with and without imaginary companions was completed by 478 parents of children within the age range of 3 to 9.5 years. A significantly larger number of children with imaginary companions were reported to be first-born children, to be very imaginative, to incorporate myth in their play, and to explain events as magical. Overall, these results are interpreted to indicate that birth order, combined with characteristics such as imaginativeness and a predisposition to engage in fantasy, characterizes children with imaginary companions.

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References

1994Some Practical Guidelines for Measuring Youth's Race/Ethnicity and Socioeconomic Status 1997The Relation between Individual Differences in Fantasy and Theory of Mind 1990The House of Make-Believe 1991The house of make-believe: children's play and the developing imagination 1981Television, imagination, and aggression : a study of preschoolers 1974The Child's World of Make-Believe: Experimental Studies of Imaginative Play 1950The magic years 1993A developmental investigation of children's imaginary companions.

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2013Mental imagery, emotion and psychopathology across child and adolescent development 2008From Internal Interlocutors to Psychological Functions of Dialogical Activity 2008The referential communication skills of children with imaginary companions 2004A Friend Living inside Me—The Forms and Functions of Imaginary Companions 2013Individual differences in children’s private speech: The role of imaginary companions

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