Abstract:

Studies have shown that most mental health issues surface between the ages of 18 and 24. A large percentage of the population in this age group attend institutes of higher education during these critical years. Hence, colleges are well positioned to provide the appropriate support structures to create a positive effect on mental health. Undiagnosed mental health issues may have long-term detrimental effects on academic, professional, and social life. This paper investigates the prevalence of one such psychological condition, Impostor Phenomenon (IP), that can have a negative impact on the overall mental wellbeing of engineering students. IP is widely experienced by people from various backgrounds and socioeconomic status. IP can be broken down to the following three basic components: not believing one deserves the success they achieve, a feeling of fraudulence about one’s success, and a feeling of dread that one will be found out. While having high levels of IP does not necessarily translate to poor work performance, it can result in anxiety, depression, and dissatisfaction with life. In the medical field, studies have shown that having high levels of IP correlates to increased burnout. A more recent study showed that suffering from elevated IP levels can have a negative effect on career development by inhibiting high-achieving employees from climbing the ladder.

There have been numerous attempts to quantify the severity of IP using surveys; one of the most well-known and widely used surveys is the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Survey (CIPS). While IP prevalence has been measured in various majors via the use of surveys, the data within engineering is sparse despite it being one of the most competitive and stressful fields. A recent study from California Polytechnic State University (developed own survey) showed that their engineering students are two times more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety than the average college population. This clearly indicates a necessity to understand IP levels within engineering majors so that colleges can deploy appropriate support structures to address this pervasive issue. For the current study, engineering students from freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, and graduate academic levels were surveyed using the CIPS; such a wide cross-sectional study in engineering has not been done before in the U.S. A total of 201 students completed the anonymous survey voluntarily. Results indicate that our engineering students suffer from borderline moderate to frequent IP feelings (59.8 < IP < 67.4). The data was further analyzed by academic standing and gender. There was no significant increase or decrease in IP levels across the various academic standings except for seniors. Senior students demonstrated statistically significant higher IP levels than juniors. Overall, female engineering students showed a higher level of IP prevalence compared to their male counterparts; similar gender-based results have been concluded by studies done in other majors. Finally, this study also investigates the dominance of the trifactor (luck, fraud, discount) to determine how each factor scales with academic standing and gender.

Keywords:

Impostor Phenomenon, Mental Health, Engineering Education.