Sorry - I misunderstood. Are you talking about kids who will claim to have made-up friends because of peer pressure? I've not heard of that sort of thing before

Sorry - I misunderstood. Are you talking about kids who will claim to have made-up friends because of peer pressure? I've not heard of that sort of thing before, but I suppose it's possible - some people/kids will tie themselves into knots just to fit in with the other kids. (Personal example: I deliberately lied about not understanding how to do long division just so I wouldn't look too clever in front of my peers - I kept up the pretence for several months.)