The incidence of imaginary companions increased during the COVID-19 pandemic

• In Event: Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: PS 14 Topic - Solicited Content: COVID-19 Related

Abstract

Previous studies (e.g., Nagera, 1969; Taylor, 1999) suggest that lonely children tend to create imaginary companions. However, the relation between loneliness and imaginary companions has not been well examined empirically. The current cross-sectional study examined the impact of social isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s creation of imaginary companions. We also examined the incidence of attachment objects (inanimate objects that children spontaneously use and are strongly attached to, such as cloths and soft toys) to exclude the possibility that the caregivers may report more imaginary companions during the pandemic because they have more opportunities to observe the children under their care and notice the existence of imaginary companions.
Seven hundred Japanese caregivers of children aged 0-9 years were asked whether their children currently had imaginary companions (personified objects and invisible friends) and attachment objects (attachment cloths and attachment soft toys) before (September 28, 2019) and during the pandemic (April 29, 2020). The latter was conducted during the time when the Japanese government publicly required people to avoid unnecessary outings (from April 7 to May 15, 2020). The questions were completely identical between the current survey and the previous one.
Logistic regression models showed that only the incidence of personified objects increased during the pandemic (OR = 2.09, p < .001, 95%CI [1.43, 3.07]), even when potential variables (children's age in months, sex ratio (ratio of girls to boys), number of brothers, parents' age, parents’ sex, number of family members, parental level of education, and family income) were controlled. The incidence of attachment objects (cloths and soft toys) and invisible friends were not influenced by the pandemic.
Although loneliness might not be the only predictor for creation of imaginary companions, our results suggest that the need to connect with others might be one of the important factors. Moreover, these results suggest that Japanese children might cope with social isolation by playing with their personified objects. Future research should address whether interaction with imaginary companions comforts children's distress.

Authors

• Masanori Yamaguchi, Kyoto University
  Presenting Author

• Yusuke Moriguchi, Kyoto University
  Non-Presenting Author