24th November 2023

Imaginary Companions and Developmental Fears

Imaginary companions

According to Gleason (2017), imaginary companions are characters, sometimes invisible and sometimes embodied in an object such as a stuffed animal or doll, which is animated by a child and treated as real. Up to 65% of children have an imaginary companion at some point prior to the age of 7. Playing with an imaginary companion helps with emotional development as they help the children to practise skills that might be useful in the future for their social, relational and emotional functioning by providing them with a safe space to experience positive and negative emotions.

Developmental fears

Developmental fears are developed as a part of normal childhood. Fear and anxiety during childhood are developed as an adaptive response to situations that are threatening or dangerous. Mark (1987) described the ‘ontogenetic parade’, which refers to the appearance and disappearance of certain fears in a predictable manner as a part of a child’s development.

In a paper regarding normal fears by Gullone, the following fears have been described under different age groups:

Throughout infancy and childhood – Fear of loud noises, fear of loss of support.

1 – 2 years – Fear of strangers, fear of strange objects, fear of heights, fear of separation anxiety.

3 – 4 years – Fear of darkness, fear of being alone, fear of animals, fear of imaginary creatures.

6 – 12 years – Fear of evaluative or social situations, fear of failure, fear of bodily injury, fear of illness, fear of school.

Begins early and persists till late adolescence – Fear of death.

Older adolescence – Fears regarding economic and political concerns, fear of failure.

Although simple fears are learnt based on social situations from other family members or negative childhood experiences, when they persist, they can develop into Phobias and cause avoidance of the unpleasant stimuli or situations, causing reinforcement.

References

• Gleason, T.R. The psychological significance of play with imaginary companions in early childhood. Learn Behav 45, 432–440 (2017). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13420-017-0284-z
• Suzanne, Broeren. (2011). Anxiety in Non‐Clinical Children: Developmental Course and Vulnerability Factors.
• Gullone, E. The Assessment of Normal Fear in Children and Adolescents. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 2, 91–106 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021895630678