Impostor Phenomenon and Burnout among Doctoral Scholars: The Role of Personality Traits and Demographic Factors

Abstract

Doctoral education is characterized by sustained academic demands, evaluative pressure, and prolonged uncertainty, which place doctoral scholars at heightened risk for psychological distress. The present quantitative study examined the role of personality traits and impostor syndrome in predicting burnout among doctoral scholars, while accounting for personal and contextual demographic factors. Using a cross-sectional design, data were collected from 200 Ph.D. scholars enrolled in public and private universities. Participants completed measures of the Big Five personality traits, impostor syndrome, and burnout. Descriptive statistics, reliability analyses, Pearson correlations, hierarchical regression, and mediation analyses were conducted. Results indicated that impostor syndrome was a strong and consistent predictor of burnout, explaining a substantial proportion of variance, whereas Big Five personality traits showed weak and largely non-significant associations with burnout. Demographic variables contributed minimally to burnout, with job type emerging as the only significant contextual predictor. Mediation analyses revealed that impostor syndrome did not mediate the relationship between personality traits and burnout. These findings underscore the central role of impostor feelings in doctoral burnout and highlight the need for targeted institutional and psychological interventions to support doctoral scholars’ well-being.