We examined how the association between impostor feelings and psychological distress was mediated by interpersonal shame and moderated by self-compassion in a sample of 433 Asian American students at an East Coast public university. First, we found that the positive association between impostor feelings and psychological distress was partially mediated by interpersonal shame (i.e., shame related to others viewing them negatively or dishonoring their family due to their deficits). Second, self-compassion significantly moderated the positive association between impostor feelings and interpersonal shame. Specifically, this positive association was stronger for those with lower self-compassion than for those with higher self-compassion. Third, the index of moderated mediation further supported that self-compassion moderated the mediation through an indirect effect of impostor feelings on psychological distress through interpersonal shame. We found additional results which supported the moderation and moderated mediation hypotheses for the three specific components of self-compassion (i.e., common humanity, self-judgment, and over-identification).
AtkinA. L.YooH. C.JagerJ.YehC. J. (2018). Internalization of the model minority myth, school racial composition, and psychological distress among Asian American adolescents, Asian American Journal of Psychology, 9, 108–116. doi:10.1037/aap0000096
2.
BedfordO. A. (2004). The individual experience of guilt and shame in Chinese culture. Culture & Psychology, 10, 29–52. doi:10.1177/1354067X04040929
3.
BrachT. (2003) Radical Acceptance: Embracing your life with the heart of a Buddha. New York: Bantam Books.
4.
CarreraS. G.WeiM. (2017). Thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and depression among Asian Americans: A longitudinal study of interpersonal shame as a mediator and perfectionistic family discrepancy as a moderator. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 64, 280–291. doi:10.1037/cou0000199
5.
ChristopherM. S.SkillmanG. D. (2009). Exploring the link between self-construal and distress among African American and Asian American college students. Journal of College Counseling, 12, 44–56. doi:10.1002/j.2161-1882.2009.tb00039.x
6.
ClanceP. R. (1985). The impostor phenomenon: Overcoming the fear that haunts your success. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree.
7.
ClanceP. R.ImesS. A. (1978). The impostor phenomenon in high achieving women: Dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, 15, 241–247. doi:10.1037/h0086006
8.
CokleyK.McClainS.EncisoA.MartinezM. (2013). An examination of the impact of minority status stress and impostor feelings on the mental health of diverse ethnic minority college students. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 41, 82–95. doi:10.1002/j.2161-1912.2013.00029.x
9.
CokleyK.SmithL.BernardD.HurstA.JacksonS.StoneS.. . . RobertsD. (2017). Impostor feelings as a moderator and mediator of the relationship between perceived discrimination and mental health among racial/ethnic minority college students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 64, 141–154. doi:10.1037/cou0000198
10.
CokleyK.StoneS.KruegerN.BaileyM.GarbaR.HurstA. (2018). Self-esteem as a mediator of the link between perfectionism and the impostor phenomenon. Personality and Individual Differences, 135, 292–297. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2018.07.032
11.
CowmanS. E.FerrariJ. R. (2002). “Am I for real?” Predicting impostor tendencies from self-handicapping and affective components. Social Behavior and Personality, 30, 119–126. doi:10.2224/sbp.2002.30.2.119
12.
GreenD. E.WalkeyF. H.McCormickI. A.TaylorA. J. (1988). Development and evaluation of a 21-item version of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist with New Zealand and United States respondents. Australian Journal of Psychology, 40, 61–70. doi:10.1080/00049538808259070
13.
HayesA. F. (2013). An introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
14.
HayesA. F. (2015). An index and test of linear moderated mediation. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 50, 1–22. doi:10.1080/00273171.2014.962683
15.
HeineS. J.KitayamaS.LehmanD. R.TakataT.IdeE.LeungC.MatsumotoH. (2001). Divergent consequences of success and failure in Japan and North America: An investigation of self-improving motivations and malleable selves. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 599–615. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.81.4.599
16.
KiangL.HuynhV. W.CheahC. S. L.WangY.YoshikawaH. (2017). Moving beyond the model minority. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 8, 1–6. doi:10.1037/aap0000070
17.
KimB. S. K.AtkinsonD. R.YangP. H. (1999). The Asian values scale: Development, factor analysis, validation, and reliability. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 46, 342–352. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.46.3.342
18.
KimB. S. K.LiL. C.NgG. F. (2005). Asian American Values Scale – Multidimensional: Development, reliability, and validity. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 11, 187–201. doi:10.1037/1099-9809.11.3.187
19.
KimB. S. K.ParkY. S. (2008). East and Southeast Asian Americans. In McauliffeG. (Ed.), Cultural alert counseling: A comprehensive introduction (pp. 189–219). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
20.
KitayamaS.MarkusH. R.MatsumotoH.NorasakkunkitV. (1997). Individual and collective processes in the construction of the self: Self-enhancement in the United States and self-criticism in Japan. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 1245–1267. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.72.6.1245
21.
KwanV. S. Y.KuangL. L.HuiN. H. H. (2009). Identifying the sources of self-esteem: The mixed medley of benevolence, merit, and bias. Self and Identity, 8, 176–195. doi:10.1080/15298860802504874
22.
KyeongL. W. (2013). Self-compassion as a moderator of the relationship between academic burn-out and psychological health in Korean cyber university students. Personality and Individual Differences, 54, 899-902. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2013.01.001
23.
LangfordJ.ClanceP. R. (1993). The impostor phenomenon: Recent research findings regarding dynamic, personality and family patterns and their implications for treatment. Psychotherapy, 30, 495–501. doi:10.1037/0033-3204.30.3.495
24.
LeeS. J. (2009). Unraveling the “model minority” stereotype: Listening to the Asian American Youth. New York, NY: Teacher College Press.
25.
LeeR. M.SuJ.YoshidaE. (2005). Coping with intergenerational family conflict among Asian American college students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52, 389–399. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.52.3.389
26.
LiangC. T. H.LiL.C.KimB. S. K. (2004). The Asian American Racism-Related Stress Inventory: Development, factor analysis, reliability, and validity. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51, 103–114. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.51.1.103
27.
LoewenthalK. M. (2001). An introduction to psychological tests and scales (2nd ed.). Hove, UK: Psychology Press.
28.
MallinckrodtB.AbrahamW. T.WeiM.RussellD. W. (2006). Advances in testing the statistical significance of mediation effects. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53, 372–378. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.53.3.372
29.
McClainS.BeasleyS. T.JonesB.AwosogbaO.JacksonS.CokleyK. (2016). An examination of the impact of racial and ethnic identity, impostor feelings, and minority status stress on the mental health of Black college students. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 44, 101–117. doi:10.1002/jmcd.12040
30.
NeffK. D. (2003). The development and validation of a scale to measure self-compassion. Self and Identity, 2, 223-250. doi:10.1080/15298860309027
31.
NeffK. D. (2004). Self-compassion and psychological well-being. Constructivism in the Human Sciences, 9, 27–37. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.06.011
32.
NeffK. D. (2016). The Self-Compassion Scale is a valid and theoretically coherent measure of self-compassion. Mindfulness, 7, 264–274. doi:10.1007/s12671-015-0479-3
33.
NeffK. D.Tóth-KirályI.YarnellL. M.ArimitsuK.CastilhoP.GhorbaniN.. . . MantzioM. (2018). Examining the factor structure of the Self-Compassion Scale in 20 diverse samples: Support for use of a total score and six subscale scores, Psychological Assessment. Advance online publication.
34.
NeffK. D.PisitsungkagarnK.HsiehY. (2008). Self-compassion and self-construal in the United States, Thailand, and Taiwan. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 39, 267–285. doi:10.1177/0022022108314544
35.
PeteetB. J.BrownC. M.LigeQ. M.LanawayD. A. (2015). Impostorism is associated with greater psychological distress and lower self-esteem for African American students. Current Psychology, 34, 154–163. doi:10.1007/s12144-014-9248-z
36.
PreacherK. J.HayesA. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40, 879–891. doi:10.3758/BRM.40.3.879
37.
RaesF.PommierE.NeffK. D.Van GuchtD. (2011). Construction and factorial validation of a short form of the self-compassion scale. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 18, 250–255. doi:10.1002/cpp.702
38.
SchaferJ. L.GrahamJ. W. (2002). Missing data: Our view of the state of the art. Psychological Methods, 7, 147–177. doi:10.1037/1082-989X.7.2.147
39.
ShroutP. E.BolgerN. (2002). Mediation in experimental and nonexperimental studies: New procedures and recommendations. Psychological Methods, 7, 422–445. doi:10.1037/1082-989X.7.4.422
40.
SueD. W.SueD. (2016). Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice (6th Edition). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
41.
WhiteS. F. (2001). The impostor phenomenon and self experiences: The role of shame and self-cohesion in perceived fraudulence. ProQuest Information & Learning, Oct 2001. AAI3012351.
42.
WongC. C. Y.MakW. W. S. (2012). Differentiating the role of three self-compassion components in buffering cognitive-personality vulnerability to depression among Chinese in Hong Kong. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1, 162–169. doi:10.1037/a0030451
43.
WongY. J.KimB. S. K.NguyenC. P.ChengJ. K. Y.SawA. (2014). The interpersonal shame inventory for Asian Americans: Scale development and psychometric properties. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 61, 119–132. doi:10.1037/a0034681
44.
ZhangJ. W.ChenS. (2016). Self-compassion promotes personal improvement from regret experiences via acceptance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 42, 244–258. doi:10.1177/0146167215623271
