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. 2023 Jan;27(1):244-252.
doi: 10.1177/13623613221092195. Epub 2022 May 2.

Autistic children who create imaginary companions: Evidence of social benefits

Paige E Davis  1 , Jessica Slater  1 , David Marshall  2 , Diana L Robins  3
Affiliations

Autistic children who create imaginary companions: Evidence of social benefits

Paige E Davis et al. Autism. 2023 Jan.

Abstract

Research on neurotypical children with imaginary friends has found that those with imaginary friends have better social skills and are more able to think about how other people's minds work compared to children without imaginary friends. Research shows that some autistic children also create imaginary friends. This article is the first to look at whether or not autistic children with imaginary friends have stronger social skills and an improved ability to think about others' minds than those without imaginary friends. We asked parents to report about their children aged 5 to 12. Finding almost half reported their child had an imaginary friend, a much larger number than previous research with younger children. Our findings also suggested that autistic children with imaginary friends were better able to understand others' minds and had stronger social skills than their peers without imaginary friends. The children's language ability did not influence this. The findings of this study add to the evidence that with respect to the creation imaginary friends and their potential benefits, the play profiles of autistic children are similar to the general population. It also provides more evidence that the understanding of others' minds is not all or nothing in autism and gives reason for researchers to investigate whether the causes of these differences are the same or different for autistic children.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorders; imaginary companions; social understanding; theory of mind.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Diana Robins is a co-owner of MCHAT, LLC, which licenses use of their intellectual property, the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) and M-CHAT Revised, with Follow-Up (M-CHAT-R/F), foral use in commercial products and collects royalties. She also serves on the advisory board for Quadrant Biosciences, Inc.

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