An investigation of the fantasy predisposition and fantasy style of children with imaginary companions

In this study, the author tested whether children with imaginary companions (ICs) have a different fantasy life than do children without ICs. To measure the fantasy life of the 74 children aged 3.2 to 8.7 years, the author modified the Children's Fantasy Interview (E. Rosenfeld, L. R. Huesmann, L. D. Eron, & J. V. Torney-Purta, 1982) to make it suitable for young children and focused on 5 aspects of fantasy life: (a) ICs, (b) dreams, (c) daydreams, (d) scary thoughts, and (e) pretend games. Consistent with the hypothesis, children who had ICs were more likely than were children without ICs to report (a) vivid imagery when daydreaming, (b) vivid imagery when playing pretend games, (c) mythical content for dreams, and (d) mythical content for pretend games.