The Imposter Phenomenon Among Emerging Adults Transitioning Into Professional Life: Developing a Grounded Theory

Abstract

This study qualitatively explored the imposter phenomenon (IP) among 29 emerging adults who were transitioning into professional life. A grounded theory was developed that described IP, internal and external contributing factors, and IP's effect in terms of performance and affective reactions. Implications for counselors of emerging adults are discussed.

Divergent Interpersonal Paths to Well-Being for Insecurely Attached Emerging Adults

“…Therefore, emerging adults with avoidant attachment would be more likely to experience leaving home and transferring attachments as a psychologically threatening experience, which could initiate a deactivating strategy, potentially explaining Pitman and Scharfe's finding that those who relied on peers did not endorse elevated distress. Such a possibility is consistent with recent literature suggesting that normative life transitions in emerging adulthood are especially psychologically threatening because emerging adults do not subjectively identify as adults (Lane, , , ; Weiss, Freund, & Wiese, ). That is, the transitions that commonly occur during this period (e.g., leaving home, entering and leaving college, beginning a career) are connected to societal expectations that one is achieving an adult identity (Lane, ), which can be psychologically difficult for emerging adults, who subjectively identify as being “in between” (Arnett, , p. 209) adolescence and adulthood.…”

“…Given the importance of social support in this stage of life, and given the contributions of attachment functioning to perceptions of social support (e.g., Larose et al, ), it is not surprising that existing emerging adult literature has identified important attachment outcomes. For example, attachment security in emerging adulthood is an important factor in healthy intimacy (Scharf, Mayseless, & Kivenson‐Baron, ) and other positive psychological outcomes (Lane, , ), including resilience from depressive symptoms (Whiffen, ), distress (Pitman & Scharfe, ), and loneliness (Larose et al, ).…”

Psychosocial student functioning in comprehensive dental clinic education: A qualitative study

“…Sources of stress, called stressors hereafter, have been broadly reported as related to problems in relationships, personality factors, academic workload and clinical environment factors . High negative stress perceptions are often accompanied by increased maladaptive perfectionism and related phenomena that can possibly affect dental student functionality and self‐esteem . For clarity, a description of terminology used in this article is presented in Table .…”

“…1,[3][4][5] High negative stress perceptions are often accompanied by increased maladaptive perfectionism and related phenomena that can possibly affect dental student functionality and self-esteem. [6][7][8][9][10] For clarity, a description of terminology used in this article is presented in Table 1.…”

Jumping Into The Deep: Imposter Syndrome, Defining Success and the New Librarian

“…People with IS often feel and experience success as external and failure as internal (Faulkner, 2015;Lane, 2015;Parkman, 2016;Gallagher, 2016). As a group, librarians set high goals for themselves, which, when overworked, are not easily achieved.…”