Chinese Children's Imaginary Companions and Theory of Mind: A Longitudinal Analysis

The relationship between imaginary companions (ICs) and the development of children's theory of mind (ToM) has aroused the interest of many researchers in the area of imaginary play. This study sought to investigate the potential causal relationships between ICs and ToM and between child–IC relationship quality and ToM using a longitudinal design. The present study included 104 Chinese preschool children and ran over approximately 13 months. IC status (with and without ICs) and child–IC relationship quality (egalitarian and hierarchical) were measured twice, at 1 month and 13 months. ToM was measured only once, at 7 months. Path analysis and bootstrap analysis with offset corrections were used to explore potential causal paths. The results revealed that ICs had a positive effect on ToM, but ToM could not predict IC status. No causal relationship existed between child–IC relationship quality and ToM in children with ICs at both Time 1 and 3. Children with higher scores on receptive vocabulary were more likely to create egalitarian child–IC relationships. Future researchers could further optimise the research design and investigate the internal mechanism of the existing causal relationships.