Does self-esteem mediate the association between parenting styles and imposter feelings among female education students?

The study investigates the links between maternal and paternal parenting styles and the imposter syndrome among adult female students, while probing the meditative role played by self-esteem in this context. The sample comprised 182 female students (Mage = 27.85, SD = 7.25) who completed the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), the Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS), and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES). The results of the analyses of the regressions models using SEM revealed that parental care is associated with students’ lower imposter feelings via self-esteem, and paternal overprotection is associated with students’ higher imposter feelings via self-esteem. Hence, parental care and overprotection may be related to female students’ imposter feelings since they increase and decrease (respectively) their self-esteem which, in turn, affects their imposter feelings. The current study is among the first to demonstrate the mediation role played by self-esteem in the association in question separately for mothers and fathers, which contributes to facilitating the understanding of the etiology mechanism of the imposter phenomenon.