Abstract

SOARES, Ana Karla Silva; NASCIMENTO, Eduardo França do  and  CAVALCANTI, Thiago Medeiros. Impostor Phenomenon and Perfectionism: Evaluating the Mediator role of Self-esteem. Estud. pesqui. psicol. [online]. 2021, vol.21, n.1, pp.116-135. ISSN 1808-4281.  https://doi.org/10.12957/epp.2021.59373.

In the literature, perfectionism has been related to the impostor phenomenon However, there is scant research that analyze jointly this relationship. This study aimed to examine the potential mediating role of self-esteem in the relationship between dimensions of perfectionism (adaptive and maladaptive) and the impostor phenomenon. Participants were 380 undergraduate students, with a mean age of 24 years (SD = 5.69, 18-55 years), mostly females (63%). They answered the Almost Perfect Scale-Revised, Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale, the Self-Esteem Scale, and demographic questions. Correlation and regression analysis were performed, with the results indicated that people with higher levels of impostorism had less self-esteem and more maladaptive perfectionism.  On the other side, self-esteem correlated positively with adaptive perfectionism and negatively with the maladaptive one. Through two-path analysis, it was identified that self-esteem partially mediated the relationship between perfectionism (maladaptive and adaptive) and impostor feelings, being greater the effect in the case of maladaptive perfectionism. We concluded that self-esteem is an important variable for understanding the relationship between impostorism and perfectionism, reinforcing that people with more self-esteem and less maladaptive perfectionists usually experience less the impostor phenomenon.

Keywords : self-esteem; impostor phenomenon; perfectionism.

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