The DOI matches its Crossref record.
Doctoral Students and the Impostor Phenomenon: Am I Smart Enough to Be Here?
Abstract
This study explores feelings associated with the impostor phenomenon (IP) as experienced by six doctoral students in a higher education program. Using data gathered from semi-structured interviews and a focus group, our analysis revealed that participants had feelings related to perceptions of inadequacy and academic preparedness. The authors found that first semester coursework, participants’ racial identity, and family expectations shape IP feelings. Results provide insights for faculty on how doctoral students may experience the classroom.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“According to the literature (Craddock et al., 2011;Sonnak & Towell, 2001;Thompson et al., 1998;Yaffe, 2021), the following background variables of students have an impact on impostor feelings: gender, age, home resources, parenting styles, academic success, and level of planning (LoP) before applying for doctoral studies (Table 2).”
From Too stupid for PhD? Doctoral impostor syndrome among Finnish PhD students (2023) · cites this paper as Craddock et al., 2011
In the citing paper
“The support and encouragement of supervisors and mentors is also crucial (Craddock et al., 2011;Nori et al., 2020).”
From Too stupid for PhD? Doctoral impostor syndrome among Finnish PhD students (2023) · cites this paper as Craddock et al., 2011
In the citing paper
“On the one hand, Ph.D. students with IP are accompanied by a variety of psychological problems including anxiety, fear, and depression (Craddock et al., 2011; Lane, 2015).”
From The impostor phenomenon among doctoral students: a scoping review (2023) · cites this paper as Craddock et al., 2011
In the citing paper
“many doctoral students cannot view themselves as talented and competent students, after successfully completing baccalaureate and master’s degrees (Craddock et al., 2011).”
From The impostor phenomenon among doctoral students: a scoping review (2023) · cites this paper as Craddock et al., 2011
Citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Racism camouflaged as impostorism and the impact on Black STEM doctoral students
McGee, E. O., Botchway, P. K., Naphan-Kingery, D. E., Brockman, A. J., Houston, S., & White, D. T. (2022) · Race Ethnicity and Education · doi:10.1080/13613324.2021.1924137 · Cited by 118
Too stupid for PhD? Doctoral impostor syndrome among Finnish PhD students
Nori, H., & Vanttaja, M. (2023) · Higher Education · doi:10.1007/s10734-022-00921-w · Cited by 73
The impostor phenomenon among doctoral students: a scoping review
Wang, Y., & Li, W. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1233434 · Cited by 50
Bernard, D., & Neblett, E. (2018) · Adolescent Research Review · doi:10.1007/s40894-017-0073-0 · Cited by 26
Metadata
- Authors
- Craddock, S., Birnbaum, M., Rodriguez, K., Cobb, C., & Zeeh, S.
- Venue
- Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2011-10
- Volume
- 48
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 429-442
- ISSN
- 1949-6591
- 1949-6605
- Cited by
- 48
- References
- 0
- Language
- en
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
How to cite
Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.
- This page
- CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Doctoral Students and the Impostor Phenomenon: Am I Smart Enough to Be Here? https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.2202/1949-6605.6321
- The paper
- Craddock, S., Birnbaum, M., Rodriguez, K., Cobb, C., & Zeeh, S. (2011). Doctoral Students and the Impostor Phenomenon: Am I Smart Enough to Be Here? Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice. https://doi.org/10.2202/1949-6605.6321
