An Examination of the Relationship between Self-esteem and Imposter Syndrome among College Students

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19758532

Zulfiqar Ullah Siddiqui and Chongkoi B (Department of Psychology, University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya)

The interdisciplinary study explored the relationship between self-esteem and imposter syndrome, along with gender differences among college students. It is proposed that self-esteem plays an important role in defining an individual’s psychological well-being, and imposter syndrome on the other hand makes a person feels inadequate, and that individual have persistent feelings of self-doubt, distress and being exposed as a fraud which can make an individual unable to recognized one’s accomplishments, even when there are signs that an individual is competent and successful, and this can affect anyone, regardless of one’s background. The study included a sample of 100 undergraduate students from various departments comprising 50 males and 50 females within the age group 20-25 years from Sazolie College, Kohima, Nagaland. Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) developed by Rosenberg (1965), revised version (2006), and the Clance Imposter Phenomenon Scale (CIPS) developed by Clance (1985), questionnaires were used to collect data. Statistical analyses, such as descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, and Pearson’s correlation, found a significant negative correlation between self-esteem and imposter syndrome. However, no significant gender differences were observed in either self-esteem or imposter syndrome among participants.