(PS7-58) Imposter Syndrome Symptoms Positively Associated with Eating Disorder Risk in University Students

Introduction:  

Imposter syndrome (IS) is a phenomenon in which individuals, despite objective successes, experience feelings of insecurity about their professional or academic performance and fear being found out as a “fraud” (Gravois, 2007; Parkman, 2016). IS is associated with perfectionism (Grubb & Grubb, 2021) and low self-esteem (Schubert & Bowker, 2019), as are eating disorders (EDs) (Colmsee et al., 2021; Wade et al., 2016). Although IS has been associated with depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation (Bravata et al., 2020); there is limited research on whether IS symptoms are associated with the risk of EDs. We hypothesized that individuals with greater IS would have a higher risk for ED symptomatology.

Method: 

The analytic sample consisted of a subset of university students (n = 4883; M_age = 24.45 years, SD = 8.32; Female = 72.4%) enrolled in the 2021-2022 Healthy Minds Study. Participants completed measures assessing IS (five questions from the Clance Imposter Syndrome Scale; (Clance, 2012), ED symptoms (SCOFF; Morgan et al., 2000), and demographics. IS total score was computed as a sum of items, with higher scores representing greater IS symptoms. The SCOFF total score was used to create an ED risk variable, with scores of two or greater screening positive for an ED. A binary logistic regression was used entering IS total score as an independent variable predicting ED risk, adjusting for age, BMI, and binary gender (female = 1, male = 0). 

Results:

Logistic regression analysis revealed a positive association between IS total score and ED risk, (B = .087, SE = .006, p < .001, OR = 1.091, 95% CI = 1.078, 1.104). Age was not a significant covariate. BMI was negatively associated with ED risk (B = -.024, SE = .002, p < .001, OR = 0.976, 95% CI = 0.972, 0.81) and gender was associated with ED risk, such that women had a higher risk for EDs than men (B = .620, SE = .062, p < .001, OR = 1.858, 95% CI = 1.646, 2.098).

Conclusions:  Higher levels of IS were associated with greater risk of ED symptomatology. For every one-point increase in IS total score, ED risk increased by 9.1%. Results suggest that there may be an association between IS and EDs, and more research is needed to understand if low self-esteem and perfectionism potentially mediate this relationship.