Social provisions of real and imaginary relationships in early childhood.

Full Abstract

Preschool-aged children's perceptions of their social relationships were examined, including those with parents, best friends, siblings, and imaginary companions. Sixty 4-year-old children participated in an interview designed to measure perceptions of the degree of conflict, nurturance, instrumental help, and power available in their relationships. Three groups were compared:
children with (a) invisible friends, (b) companions who were personified objects (e.g., dolls), and (c) no imaginary companion. Results indicated that children differentiated the relationships in their social networks according to provisions. Parent-child relationships afforded instrumental help and siblings were associated with conflict. Provisions of real and imaginary friendships were similar, although imaginary friends were preferred as objects of nurturance. Results imply that 4-year-old children have developed differentiated relationship schemas and that those of children with invisible friends may be particularly distinct.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Gleason, Tracy R (TR);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Wellesley College, Massachusetts 02481-8203, USA. tgleason(-atsign-)wellesley.edu

Grants: MH198993 (Agency:United States NIMH)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Journal: Developmental psychology (Dev Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Nov; vol 38 (issue 6) : pp 979-92

Dates: Created 2002/11/13; Completed 2003/04/07; Revised 2007/11/14;

PMID: 12428709, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

This article has not been indexed for related articles as yet, however you can still use the live related article search links below.

See 100+ related articles.