Parents, don't worry: imaginary friends are good for children's language skills and may also benefit their performance at school, according to a New Zealand study.

    The study, by University of Otago associate professor Elaine Reese and researcher Gabriel Trionfi, investigated the language skills of 48 boys and girls aged 5-1/2, of whom 23 had imaginary, or invisible, friends.

    The researchers found that the children who played with these make-believe companions had more advanced narrative skills than children who did not engage in this type of play.

    "Because children's storytelling skills are a strong predictor of their later reading skill, these differences may even have positive spinoffs for children's academic performance," Reese said in a statement on the university's website.

    The children's language skills were assessed by measuring their vocabulary and their ability to retell a fictional story to a puppet, and then a realistic tale based on an outing or family event.

    While children were not found to differ in their vocabulary levels, those with invisible companions told higher-quality stories, both about fictional and real events.

    "Most importantly, the children with imaginary friends tailored their stories to the task. For fictional stories, they included more dialogue. For realistic stories, they provided more information about time and place compared to children without imaginary friends," Reese explained.

    This storytelling advantage was apparent for children with imaginary friends regardless of their birth order, she says.

    "We believe that children with imaginary friends may be getting extra practice at telling stories. First, they may be creating stories with their imaginary friends. Second, because their friends are invisible, children may recount their escapades to interested adults," Reese added.

    The study was published in the recent issue of the journal Child Development.

    身為父母者，其實不需要太擔心：新西蘭的一項最新研究成果表明，假想的玩伴有助于提高孩子的語言能力，而且對于他們將來在學校里與人相處也有所裨益。

    在這項由Otago大學副教授Elai Reese和研究員Gabriel Trionfi聯合進行的研究活動中， 被調查的對象是48位5歲半左右的男童和女童，在他們中有23位都有假想或隱形的朋友。

    研究發現，那些經常和虛構的伙伴玩耍的孩子比起那些不從事這項游戲的孩子而言，更擅長表述。

    "孩子講故事的能力往往是將來他們的閱讀能力的一個預示。這些不同點甚至會對他們今后的學術表現造成極大影響。" Reese在一篇發表在大學網站里的文章中如是說到。

    評估孩子們語言能力的標準是，通過讓他們向娃娃復述一個童話，和一個發生在郊游或者家里的趣事，在此過程中對于詞匯的運用和表述的能力。