Let’s Play Together!: Children’s Co-Play with Imaginary Friends in Various Play Contexts

• In Event: Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Topic - Social Relationships

Abstract

Imaginary Companions (ICs) offer a myriad of social and cognitive affordances for young children (Gleason, 2013; Trionfi & Reese, 2009). Previous research has suggested that the form an IC takes, whether personified object (PO; defined by a tangible physical form) or invisible friend (IF; abstract existence in the child’s mind), is indicative of the type of relationship a child has with their IC. POs are more likely to be nurtured in a hierarchical relationship with a child, whereas IFs are more likely to be equal partners in a horizontal relationship with a child (Gleason, 2000). However, little research has considered whether children engage with different types of ICs in different play contexts. This preliminary study explored if children who have different kinds of ICs engage in different play activities with those ICs.
One hundred and thirty-six children with ICs (Mage = 3.95 years, SD = .66; 68 girls, 61 boys, 7 did not report gender) participated in this study and were interviewed about their ICs. First, children indicated if their IC was a stuffed animal or toy or was purely imaginary: 49 children reported that their IC was a PO, and 87 children reported their IC was an IF. Children then indicated if they participated in four activities with their IC (0 = Child does activity with IC; 1 = Child does not do activity with IC): watching television, playing video games, drawing, and playing sports. There were no significant differences in IC form within age, t(108) = .37, p = .714, Cohen’s d = .07, such that children whose imaginary companion was a PO (Mage = 3.98 years, SD = .69 ) were not older or younger than children whose imaginary companion was an IF (Mage = 3.93 years , SD = .65). Gender also was not significantly related to IC form, χ2(1, N = 129) = .008, p = .927.
Overall, children reported engaging regularly in co-play with their ICs across all activities; participation rates ranged from 91.6% to 98.8%. Additionally, for the majority of activities (watching television, drawing, and playing sports), there were no differences in participation rates between children with a PO or an IF as their IC (Table 1). However, children with an IF (98.8%) were significantly more likely than children with a PO (91.8%) to play video games with their IC, χ2(1, N=136) = 4.16, p = .041 (Table 1).
Results illustrated children report various kinds of co-play with their ICs. In addition, children with IFs were more likely to report playing video games with that companion than children whose ICs were POs. Although these findings are exploratory in nature, they suggest a couple of possibilities to be examined in future research. First, different kinds of ICs may be more suited to some activities than others. Additionally, there may be something about video game play that is well-suited to co-play with an IC that is purely imaginary. Third, child-IC relationships should be qualitatively investigated for what they reveal about children’s social development.

Authors

• Hea Jung Lee, University of California - Riverside
  Presenting Author

• Rebekah Richert, University of California - Riverside
  Non-Presenting Author