Childhood Fantasy Play, Imaginary Companion Creation and Associations With Socio-Emotional Competence Across the Lifespan

  • Abigail Halliday

Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis

Abstract

Evidence suggests children who create imaginary companions (IC) are more socio-emotionally competent than their peers, but questions remain about the long-term outcomes and direction of causality. To address this, research presented in this thesis examined IC creation, as well as childhood fantasy play (FP) more broadly (chapter 4), and how these related to socio-emotional outcomes throughout the lifespan (chapters 2, 3 and 5). Chapter 6 aimed also to provide insight into the causal relationship. Across the thesis, studies recruited samples of children, adolescents and adults, and drew on both questionnaire measures and behavioural tasks to assess socio-emotional competence, and spontaneous childhood play behaviours. The empirical research also included an intervention that promoted IC creation in children who had not spontaneously created ICs and assessed its impact. While findings showed presence of a childhood IC was unrelated to socio-emotional competency in adolescence or adulthood, childhood FP significantly predicted socio-emotional competency in both older groups. Social isolation did not affect frequency of FP but did prompt changes in IC play. Patterns in chapters 5 and 6 indicated that spontaneous IC creation may only relate to performance-based measures of socio-emotional competence in some samples. Although the analysis of causality was inconclusive due to Covid-19-related interruptions, data demonstrated that with structured guidance, children can create ICs qualitatively similar to those created spontaneously. While prior research has focussed primarily on effects in childhood, this thesis brings new insights into of the role of childhood FP and IC status across the lifespan. It provides evidence that socio-emotional benefits can continue to impact us across adolescence and into adult life, highlighting the value of FP in educational policy. Findings demonstrate the complexity of the relationship between IC status and socio-emotional competence, and the thesis provides the basis for the interventional work needed to fully understand the causal relationship in future.
Date of Award23 Aug 2024
Original languageEnglish
SupervisorSusanna Kola-Palmer (Main Supervisor) & Jenny Retzler (Co-Supervisor)

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