Intrapsychic and Behavioral Correlates of the Phenomenon of Imaginary Companions in Young Children

This study employed behavioral and Rorschach Test data to examine eighteen 4- and 5-year-olds with imaginary companions. We hypothesize that the imaginary companions served these children as an adaptive resource in handling conflictual interpersonal experience, thereby enabling them to function without overt symptomatology. As measured by the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) all the children did perform within the normal range. Their Rorschach protocols, when compared to normal, comparably aged children as reported by Ames, Metraux, Rodell, and Walker (1974), were characterized by a markedly larger number of human, animal, and inanimate movement scores and poorer form level. This Rorschach pattern suggested excellent imaginal resourcefulness and thus provided another demonstration of these children's remarkable capacity for symbolic representation. An analysis of the content of these responses using the Mutuality of Autonomy (MOA) Scale (Urist, 1977) revealed a contrast between autonomous, benign human interactive percepts and malevolent animal and inanimate movement interaction. We viewed the use of the human movement response as a buffer against more conflictual fantasied representations. This perspective is parallel to previous clinical studies that stressed the reparative function the imaginary companion serves in handling conflict.