Sou uma fraude (?): explicando a síndrome do impostor

Abstract

This dissertation, divided into four articles, aims to evaluate the impostor syndrome, self-esteem, psychological discomfort and personality traits in undergraduate students. Article 1 was of a theoretical nature and gathered information on concepts, correlates and measurement of the impostor syndrome. Article 2 aimed to build and gather evidence of validity and accuracy of the Impostor Syndrome Scale (ISS). In this article, two studies were carried out: the first involved the participation of 280 individuals (teachers, employees and students) linked to a public higher education institution. They answered the preliminary version of the ISS and a sociodemographic questionnaire. The exploratory factor analysis showed a tetrafactorial structure and satisfactory internal consistency (α = 0.82). Thus, items with a factor load equal to or greater than |0.50| were selected, resulting in a structure with 16 items. In the second study, we tried to confirm the structure found in the previous study. For this, 200 university students answered ISS and sociodemographic questions. Confirmatory factor analysis showed good adjustment rates [χ² / g.l. = 1.95; TLI = 0.87; GFI = 0.90; AGFI = 0.85; CFI = 0.90 and RMSEA = 0.06]. The internal consistency indexes were considered adequate for each component [self-depreciation (ω = 0.70), fear of evaluation (ω = 0.82), fraud (ω = 0.84) and impression management (ω = 0.62)] and for the scale in general (ω = 0.86). With evidence attesting the adequacy of the ISS, we moved on to Article 3, which aimed to verify the relationships between the impostor syndrome, self-esteem and psychological discomfort. Two studies were carried out, the first involving 200 university students, who answered demographic questions and the following measures: Impostor Syndrome Scale (ISS), Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and General Health Questionnaire - (GHQ-12). In the second study, the first one was replicated, with 200 participants. The instruments used and data analysis performed were similar to those of first one. The results indicated that the variable with the greatest predictive power over impostor syndrome is self-esteem. Finally, Article 4 sought to investigate the relationship between the imposter syndrome, the Big Five, the dark and luminous triad. Therefore, two studies were carried out. Study 1 tested hypotheses of association between variables. Participants (N = 200) answered demographic questions and the following measures: Impostor Syndrome Scale (ISS), Big Five Inventory (BFI), Virtuous Personality Inventory (VPI) and Dark Triad Dirty Dozen (DTDD). The second study was a replication of the first one in which 200 university students participated. The instruments and data analysis were similar to those of Study 1. The results indicated that conscientiousness, neuroticism and narcissism were the traits that best explain the impostor feelings. Given the psychometric evidence found, it was possible to assess the imposter syndrome, self-esteem, psychological discomfort and personality traits in undergraduate students with greater clarity.