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Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are events that occur during a person’s childhood that can affect their physical, mental, and social health later in life. Abuse, neglect or household disfunction are common events labeled as ACEs to study the effects of childhood trauma. ACEs have been linked to several negative physical and mental health outcomes, such as substance abuse, heart and lung diseases, anxiety and depression. Furthermore, several studies have shown that emotion dysregulation and attachment anxiety mediate the relationships between ACEs and negative health outcomes. Emotion dysregulation and attachment anxiety can also be linked to a commonly studied social aliment, imposter phenomenon. Individuals experiencing imposter phenomenon may feel as though they are undeserving of their personal accomplishments or have achieved them by luck or chance. Emotion dysregulation can lead to a lack of control, or perceived control, over one’s emotions. This lack of control could theoretically lead to feelings of inadequacy and fakeness experienced by those suffering from imposter phenomenon. Likewise, attachment anxiety can lead to fear of abandonment in relationships caused by the similar feelings of inadequacy. The aim of the present research was to therefore determine whether ACEs may predict greater feelings of the imposter phenomenon through emotion dysregulation and attachment anxiety. A total of 464 participants completed measures of ACEs, emotion dysregulation, attachment anxiety, and the imposter phenomenon online in REDCap. A bootstrap (5000 repetitions) mediation analysis conducted in JASP indicated that although ACEs do not directly predict the imposter phenomenon, greater ACEs indirectly predicted greater feelings of being an imposter through both emotion dysregulation and attachment anxiety. That is, the more ACEs one experiences theoretically leads to greater emotion dysregulation and higher attachment anxiety, both of which predict greater feelings of being an imposter. These results suggest that ACEs may disrupt the development of healthy coping mechanisms and regulation strategies that could feed into an inability to recognize one’s abilities and successes. Furthermore, experiencing negative mental and physical outcomes due to ACEs could produce a negative self-worth, leading to feelings of being an imposter. Likewise, anxiety in other aspects of life, such as relationships, could lead to these same feelings. Although the present research suggests that ACEs indirectly predict the imposter phenomenon, future research may show numerous factors impacting the imposter phenomenon with multiple interacting variables. Future research should aim to examine these factors prospectively and in different populations other than the one studied here. As with any self-report research, there could be discrepancies in data reported due to recall and impression management, especially when participants are asked about sensitive subjects, such as ACEs and intimate relationships. Despite these limitations, these results help provide a greater understanding of the effect ACEs and childhood trauma can have on social well-being and can also lead to a better understanding of development of and treatments for the imposter phenomenon.

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Sweden faces a recruitment problem in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). It has been suggested that imposter phenomenon, a feeling of fraudulence and inability to internalize success, may be the reason why many individuals, especially women, leave STEM fields. Fear of failure is theorized to be the main motive underlying imposter phenomenon. In Sweden, students are asked to choose a direction of study already when entering upper secondary school. In the current study, a survey of 1045 ninth grade students from 27 schools throughout Sweden aimed to answer five research questions: (1) How prevalent is fear of failure in grade 9 students in Sweden, (2) How does the prevalence of fear of failure differ between male and female students, (3) and between students with differing levels of achievement, (4) How do students’ fear of failure differ in relation to STEM subjects and other subjects, and (5) Are students with a higher fear of failure less likely to pick a STEM program for their continued education? The results showed that the average Swedish grade 9 student did not experience a high fear of failure, but over one fourth of the students surveyed at least partially agreed with the statements in the Performance Failure Appraisal Inventory, which puts them at risk for suffering negative mental health effects. Females experienced a significantly higher fear of failure, which may be rooted in gender stereotype consciousness. Perceived risk of failure in STEM programs was not a significant predictor for whether students picked STEM programs, and surprisingly, fear of failure was significantly higher in those that would choose to study STEM. It seems that interest in a program and future career opportunities outweighs any potential risks of failure. If students with a high fear of failure are choosing STEM programs, it is important for educators to break them out of the “imposter cycle” of overpreparing and then being unable to internalize their successes. One way to do this is to teach students about the early struggles that famous scientists faced in producing the information they are learning, in order to teach them that failure, or hard work and effort, does not signal a lack of intelligence. The best predictor for students that would choose STEM programs was whether they found mathematics and science classes easy, so sparking interest and demystifying these subjects is one of the keys to the STEM recruitment problem.

Social exclusion in higher education can occur at multiple levels (e.g., systemic, institutional, interpersonal, individual), and individuals simultaneously hold multiple social identities that could influence their perceptions of academic climate. The current study utilized a mixed-methods convergent parallel design to explore the impact of multiple social identities, perceptions of academic climate, and the imposter phenomenon among psychology students. In the quantitative portion, participants (N = 142) completed an online survey related to gender centrality, academic climate, and imposter phenomenon. Gender group comparisons revealed that cisgender men indicated poorer perceptions of climate than cisgender women and gender minorities, but imposter phenomenon was higher among cisgender women and gender minorities than cisgender men. However, perceived academic climate did not mediate the relationship between gender and the imposter phenomenon nor did gender centrality moderate the indirect path of gender on imposter phenomenon through perceived academic climate. In the qualitative portion, participants (N = 14) provided insight, through semi-structured interviews, on the connectedness of perceived academic climate and imposter phenomenon based on the culmination of their multiple social identities. Six themes were identified through reflexive thematic analyses (1) benefits of psychology; 2) barriers of psychology; 3) privileged perspective; 4) stereotypic view of psychology; 5) imposter phenomenon connections; 6) enhancing and maintaining success). Integrated findings suggest a power shift within the context of psychology as individuals that hold traditionally subordinate social identities reported positive perceptions of academic climate, while individuals that hold traditionally dominant social identities perceived academic climate more poorly. However, positive perceptions of academic climate failed to combat the internalization of negative societal stereotypes of those in traditionally subordinate groups, which was associated with experiences of the imposter phenomenon. Future directions and implications for translating findings are discussed.

<p>While literature on sexual minority issues is limited, there is evidence supporting poor retention rate among lesbian, gay, and bisexual students (LGB) studying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). STEM fields often have heterosexist environments that present unique barriers to LGB individuals, though, more must be done to understand factors that deter sexual minorities from entering and remaining in the field. I aim to contribute to the scarce LGB scholarship by examining the STEM climate and exploring factors related to persistence.</p><p> This dissertation is composed of two independent articles that each investigate the issue of underrepresentation of LGB individuals in STEM fields. The first article analyzes existing literature and calls on counseling psychologists to address the problem through using queer theory. I identify various factors that make sexual minorities a difficult population to research, note the additional challenges heterosexism creates for LGB individuals, and recommend counseling psychologists use queer theory to research the systems within STEM. I conclude with recommendations for clinicians and universities.</p> The second article includes an empirical study examining factors related to poor persistence in STEM among LGB undergraduates. Using a mediation model, I hypothesized burnout and the imposter phenomenon would mediate the relationships between stereotype threat and STEM identity, as well as the relationship between STEM identity and persistence. Results indicated stereotype threat was a significant positive predictor of burnout and imposter phenomenon, while STEM identity was a significant predictor of persistence. Results also suggested the effect of stereotype threat on STEM identity is explained better using burnout and imposter phenomenon.

This study explored the impostor phenomenon (IP) experiences of secondary public school music students by addressing three primary research questions. The first question investigated the frequency and severity of impostor feelings using both the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS) and the newly developed Music Student Impostor Phenomenon Scale (MSIPS). Results revealed high levels of impostor feelings among participants (N = 824) with the original CIPS generating higher scores (M = 74.02, SD = 15.19) compared to the MSIPS (M = 69.66, SD = 10.85). Subsequent analysis categorized participants into Few, Moderate, Frequent, and Intense response levels, indicating a substantial number experiencing frequent or intense impostor feelings. The second research question explored correlations between demographic variables and reported IP scores. Gender, age, NAfME region, race/ethnicity, school music experience, parent ensemble participation, and ensemble type were analyzed for potential associations with impostor feelings. While some weak correlations emerged, the overall trend indicated universality in impostor experiences across demographic categories. Notably, the MSIPS generated lower overall scores, prompting considerations on the scale’s domain-specificity. The third research question evaluated the MSIPS’s validity and reliability. The study affirmed the scale’s reliability with Cronbach’s alpha of .876, while the content validity index (CVI) suggested its adequacy for measuring impostor feelings in a public school music context. However, challenges arose during factor analysis revealing an excessive number of factors, complicating interpretation. This study argues for reconsidering the necessity of domain-specific scales, advocating for a broader focus on universal self-perceptions contributing to the impostor phenomenon. In conclusion, this study contributes insights into the impostor phenomenon among public school music students and emphasizes the widespread occurrence of IP, advocating for a broader approach to understanding and addressing impostor feelings. The findings invite further exploration into psychotherapeutic interventions and broader considerations of the self-perceptions contributing to the impostor phenomenon. / Music Education

Self-handicapping is a psychological behavior people engage in to protect their self-image, project a desired image to others, and to augment feelings of success and achievement. Self-handicapping occurs when individuals have a positive but uncertain self-image about their competence in an arena of life fundamental to their self-identity. Musicians have been underrepresented in self-handicapping studies; yet the very competitive nature of their education and craft, the strong identification musicians have as musicians, and the frequent challenges during all phases of development to their abilities would suggest they are extremely vulnerable to developing self-handicaps. This dissertation discusses the theoretical components of self-handicapping, the personality traits typically exhibited by high self-handicappers, causes, types, and possible motivations for self-handicapping, short and long term effects of the behavior, and the implications these concepts have to the musician community. In addition, it contains the results of an extensive survey of musicians which examines self-handicapping tendencies, depression, imposter phenomenon, and self-esteem ratings to determine 1) if musicians self-handicap, 2) how the four constructs are related to each other within the musician population, 3) if other factors concerning musicians and self-handicapping are related, 4) areas for future research. Several significant relationships involving the four constructs tested, as well as a significant difference between the self-handicapping behaviors of professional and amateur players were found. In addition, it contains the results of an extensive survey of musicians which examines self-handicapping tendencies, depression, imposter phenomenon, and self-esteem ratings to determine 1) if musicians self-handicap, 2) how the four constructs are related to each other within the musician population, 3) if other factors concerning musicians and self-handicapping are related, 4) areas for future research. Several significant relationships involving the four constructs tested, as well as a significant difference between the self-handicapping behaviors of professional and amateur players were found.

The study examined the impostor phenomenon among undergraduate and graduate students at a Predominantly White Institution (PWI). Participants were recruited from various undergraduate and graduate programs at a PWI located in Northeastern U.S. There were 414 participants, all of whom completed an online Qualtrics survey, which included measures on demographics, sense of belonging, impostor phenomenon, mindset, perceived social support, and depression. Results indicated a significantly positive relationship between impostor phenomenon and depression. Perceived social support and sense of belonging significantly moderated this relationship. Female and Other (Transgender, Non-Binary, and Non-Gender-Specified) participants experienced a significantly higher level of impostor feelings than Male participants. Asian and Other (African American, Hispanic, Latinx, Middle Eastern, Biracial, and Multiracial) participants experienced significantly lower levels of perceived social support than White participants, but did not experience significantly different levels of impostor phenomenon or sense of belonging compared to White participants. Lastly, there was no significant relationship between fixed mindset and impostor phenomenon. In light of these results, there are several recommendations for universities, including increasing the amount of support groups.