Imaginary Friends
Sixty-five percent of children say that by age seven, they've played with an imaginary companion.
Children interviewed for a study by psychologists at the University of Washington and University of Oregon were considered to have an imaginary companion if they were able to discuss its psychological traits, such as 'She is nice to me.'
The study also showed that:
- While preschool girls were more likely to have an imaginary companion, by age 7 boys were just as likely as girls to have one.
- 27 percent of the children described an imaginary friend that their parents did not know about.
- 57 percent of the imaginary companions of school-age youngsters were humans and 41 percent were animals. One companion was a human capable of transforming herself into any animal the child wanted.
- Not all imaginary companions are friendly. A number were quite uncontrollable and some were a nuisance.
[Source: University of Washington News]
This is a very interesting study.
I knew a number of kids who had imaginary friends.
As for myself, I don't remember ever having one when I was a kid, although I do now.
I don't know his name, but he's from Nigeria, and he pisses me off every night because that's when he feels like turning the TV on loud to watch CNN or some African tribal videos.
Well, actually he's not my imaginary friend, he's my upstairs neighbour, but I try to convince myself he's imaginary to keep myself from rushing up to kill the shithead.
LOL! tell me about it! Sometimes I feel like killing myself coz of him :P
Anyway, I think the study is very interesting. As a child (around 6), I didn't have one imaginary friends, I used to create one for each occasion in which I was either bored or alone. I enjoyed it and it helped me pass time when my real friends at school were absent.
Yeah, we do, but well recently he's been keeping it down, so no need for trouble :)
Posted by: MMM at December 9, 2004 03:35 PMThis might seem bazare, but indeed true.
i'm 23 years old, and I have 2 imaginary friends.
they've been with me for the last 8 months.
it's getting more complicated to me to differenciate between the real and unreal life.
why is that happening to me?
i mean as a child
I never had them, so why now?
plz provide me with a helpful answer.
Thank you
I don't think it's a problem, Lina, I'm 24 and had imaginary friends since childhood. I have real-life buddies too, though.
Posted by: Angie at June 14, 2005 08:49 PMI don't think it's a problem, Lina, I'm 24 and had imaginary friends since childhood. I have real-life buddies too, though.
Posted by: Angie at June 14, 2005 08:49 PMI still have imaginary friends and I'm 18. I don't know what to do though because sometimes before bed I imagine I'm at a party with them or something.. And it may seem weird, because I really need help, but I even got "involved" with one and we "broke up." I have a real boyfriend whom I love dearly, but the whole imaginary friend thing is kind of scaring me now because I'm really believing they're there and...I dunno.. I just need advice.
Posted by: Maranda at July 3, 2005 10:21 PMI'm 18 years old, and I've had imaginary friends for as long as I can remember. The thing is that it's not really like friends, more like... Well, I remember that it started with me pretending I was in hospital and I had these really nice nurses that took care of me (I was probably 6 or 8 or something) and from than on I've been fantasising about lots and lots of things. I often take things from tv shows, I will pretend to be living with those people. I have also often pretended to have a relationship with one of them. It has always been like this and I don't think it will ever change. I don't worry about it though, it's just something that I like and that makes me feel comfortable. I don't have trouble keeping it separated from reality, because it's not that real to me, I'm always aware that it's a fantasy. When I was younger I would stick with the same fantasy and the same people for a long time, some even lasted for years. These days I get bored with the charakters more easily because i pretty much keep playing out the same story each time, only with different charakters and different locations. It almost always involves me being taken in by a group of charakters, who take care of me because for some reason I need to be taken care of.
Anyway, I don't really feel that all this is neccesarily unnatural or anything. It doesn't cause any problems for me and it feels good.
one of my best m8s is making up all these friends n gettin pics off google pics n sayin they're them! we dnt no wot 2 say 2 her cos we dnt wnt her 2 feel stupid. weneva someone ask 2 speak to them on the phone when they're "at her house" she makes up an excuse. shes even sed michelle got knocked off her moterbike we she woz on it with her brother. that shes in hospital but shes txtin my ova m8s, we think shes using someone elses fone, n u cant use mobiles in hospitals can u? we're a bit scared cos everything is going ova the top! wot can i do? id appreciate all of ur opinions! thank yuo so much xxx btw we are 13!
Posted by: hollie at October 17, 2005 05:49 PMoh yea i forgot dis grl called stacy apparantly climbed thro her window n they had a fight, my friend accidently hit the wall, apparantly, tho she even wore a bandage the nxt day. funny thing is my ova m8 its impossible to get thro dat window she woz tlkin about! HELP!!!
Posted by: hollie at October 17, 2005 05:50 PMI'm fourteen and have an imaginary friend, and he and I share a love that is like a brother/sister kind of thing, but it goes so much deeper than that. I can't explain it.
BUt I hate calling him 'my imaginary friend', for to me, he IS real. Probably more real to me than anything else in the God-forsaken world.
I love him dearly and don't care what anyone else thinks. I'm just glad that I'm not the only one.
-Emma~
Posted by: Emma at October 31, 2005 11:35 PMI'm 16 years old, and a sophomore in high school. I get wonderful grades, and I want to be a surgeon. I have plenty of real friends, and a wonderful, caring boyfriend of nearly two years. I've also had imaginary friends since I was four years old. For some odd reason I just can't seem to stop talking to them. At times I wonder if I'm crazy, and wonder why I feel so attatched to them.
It's nice to see that I'm not alone.
i have imaginary friends because imdepressed and i have no friends. I feel so lonely because nobody likes me. im 12, 13 in july. I need some advice on how to Use and imaginary friend. I hope it might, i don't know, make me feel like somebody. I am so talented, but very depressed. Im really a loser. if u help plz email me at animaluva224@cox.net. Put "imaginary friend" in the sublect box
Posted by: alana at May 24, 2006 01:01 AMI want a real life imaginary friend
I want her name too be rainbow DJ she has
fluffy rainbow hair blue circled earings
yellow skin a red heart face painting a
a blue and pink red heart t-shirt green pants
long white socks light green shoes and a green
striped light blue and pink heart tattoo I
want her to be perfect
signed
Cydanie Allen
May, Nikita, Theo, Ryoma(japanese kid), and Kokiri.
Those are mine, I'm thirteen and I was crying all night becasue I thought I was crazy so I googled some stuff and now I feel so much better because I know I'm not alone, there are people out there who think like me. Sometimes it's hard to remember that they aren't real...
Here's what I think: Imaginary friends are the people you lack in real life. if someone close to you dies and you have no one to listen to you, you turn to the person who will always listen ;-) That's how it is for me anyway, since I only have a few friends at school who all live really far away from me. I'd never dream of telling anyone though, but I think that they're better than real people because they always know what to say to make you feel better.
