The Relationship between Imaginary Companions, Social Competence and Behavioral Problems of Preschool Children

The question of emotional, social and cognitive development outcomes in children involved in playing with an imaginary companion is still open. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the frequency and age of manifestation of imaginary companions as well as to investigate the relationship between the phenomena of imaginary companions, social competence and behavioral problems on the sample of preschool children. The study included 224 parents of children aged between 2 and 7 years. The parents provided information about the children's imaginary companions, their social competence and internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems. The results indicate that 40.2% of the children in the sample had an imaginary companion, and the most frequent age of occurrence was around 3 years of age. It was more common for girls to have imaginary companions, and most of the children were imagining only one companion who was then commonly present for a few months. The imaginary companion was the same age as the child in 31% of the children and was the same gender for 92% of the boys and 49% of the girls. The study also found that children with and without imaginary companions had equal levels of social competence but not of externalizing problems, which were lower in children with imaginary companion. The young girls with imaginary companions were more likely to have greater internalizing problems than the rest of the sample.