Multiphasic aspects of fantasy and mental health

Abstract

This study examined how fantasy affects mental health. College students (N=438) completed (1) the Multiphasic Fantasy Inventory that measures: the content of fantasies, the recognition of own fantasies, the roles and the influence of fantasies, the conditions for fantasizing and fantasizing tendency; and (2) the Subjective Well-being Inventory. A series of t-tests revealed that participants scoring high on mental health scored low on “fantasies of encountering misfortunes, ” “doing fantasy at the unpleasant conditions” and “fantasy can't be controlled.” There were significant differences between high and low scorers on mental health with regard to “vividness” and “absorption” items in the seven-item fantasizing tendency scale. These results suggest that characteristics of fantasy are related to mental health.View full abstract