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.

身为父母者，其实不需要太担心：新西兰的一项最新研究成果表明，假想的玩伴有助于提高孩子的语言能力，而且对于他们将来在学校里与人相处也有所裨益。

在这项由Otago大学副教授Elai Reese和研究员Gabriel Trionfi联合进行的研究活动中， 被调查的对象是48位5岁半左右的男童和女童，在他们中有23位都有假想或隐形的朋友。

研究发现，那些经常和虚构的伙伴玩耍的孩子比起那些不从事这项游戏的孩子而言，更擅长表述。

"孩子讲故事的能力往往是将来他们的阅读能力的一个预示。这些不同点甚至会对他们今后的学术表现造成极大影响。" Reese在一篇发表在大学网站里的文章中如是说到。

评估孩子们语言能力的标准是，通过让他们向娃娃复述一个童话，和一个发生在郊游或者家里的趣事，在此过程中对于词汇的运用和表述的能力。