ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Mindfulness
Exploring Relationships Between Self-Compassion, Impostor Phenomenon, and Mental Health Among Doctoral Students
Provisionally accepted
Brian J Clarke*
Michael T Hartley- The University of Arizona, Tucson, United States
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The impostor phenomenon (IP), characterized by persistent self-doubt and difficulty internalizing success, is common among doctoral students and linked to significant mental health concerns in higher education. This study examined relationships among IP, self-compassion, and mental distress in a national sample of 1,225 U.S. doctoral students. IP scores were negatively skewed, indicating elevated impostor feelings, with women and non-binary students reporting the highest scores. IP showed strong positive associations with anxiety, depression, and loneliness, with higher scores observed even at lower IP levels. In hierarchical regression analyses, higher self-compassion was associated with lower with lower scores on anxiety, depression, and loneliness beyond what IP explained. These findings suggest that self-compassion is associated with lower mental distress among doctoral students experiencing IP. Incorporating self-compassion practices into doctoral programs may be a promising approach for supporting wellbeing and persistence.
Keywords: Graduate education, Impostor phenomenon, Mental Health, self-compassion, Doctoral students
Received: 18 Jul 2025; Accepted: 31 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Clarke and Hartley. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Brian J Clarke, bclarke14@arizona.edu
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