Prevalence of Impostor Syndrome and its association with anxiety among undergraduate students: a cross-sectional study

Authors

  • Sidra Doctor of Physical Therapy Students of Rehman College of Rehabilitation Sciences, Rehman Medical Institute, Peshawar
  • Kainat Zulfiqar Doctor of Physical Therapy Students of Rehman College of Rehabilitation Sciences, Rehman Medical Institute, Peshawar
  • Ayesha Afzal Khan Doctor of Physical Therapy Students of Rehman College of Rehabilitation Sciences, Rehman Medical Institute, Peshawar
  • Shama Hammad Doctor of Physical Therapy Students of Rehman College of Rehabilitation Sciences, Rehman Medical Institute, Peshawar
  • Muhammad Atif Doctor of Physical Therapy Students of Rehman College of Rehabilitation Sciences, Rehman Medical Institute, Peshawar
  • Mashal Gul Lecturer Rehman College of Rehabilitation Sciences, Peshawar

Keywords:

Impostor syndrome, anxiety, prevalence

Abstract

Background: A psychological phenomenon known as Impostor Syndrome has recently attracted more attention in scholarly and scientific circles, especially due to its effects on medical students. This study was carried to determine the prevalence of impostor syndrome among undergraduate students at Rehman Medical Institute (RMI) and its association with anxiety among students of RMI.

Material and methods: An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in RMI Allied Health Sciences, concentrating on the prevalence of Impostor Syndrome and its association with anxiety. Questionnaires were distributed in hard form across RMI disciplines (RCRS, RCN, and RCAHS) with a sample size of 302 in which all willing undergraduate first to final year students of Allied Health Sciences were included. Students who had anxiety and uses medication for anxiety or having panic attacks were excluded from our study. Convenience sampling was used for data collection. SPSS version 2022 was used for the analysis of the data.

Results: Data was gathered and analysed from a total of 302 participants. The mean score for anxiety was 10.12 ± 5.23 and for imposter syndrome was 62.04 ± 11.06. Chi-square analysis revealed a strong association between anxiety and impostor syndrome. The results of the analysis showed that there were no statistically significant differences in anxiety and Impostor Syndrome according to age, gender, discipline, or academic year.

Conclusion: The study's findings indicate that Impostor Syndrome was present in most undergraduate students to varying degrees and that anxiety and Impostor Syndrome were significantly correlated. The research found no significant differences in Impostor Syndrome levels by gender, age, or study year. The finding of a strong positive correlation between Impostor Syndrome and anxiety further substantiated the link between students' heightened anxiety levels and feelings of inadequacy.

Downloads

Published

2026-06-30

How to Cite

Sidra, Zulfiqar, K. ., Afzal Khan, A., Hammad, S. ., Atif, M. ., & Gul, M. (2026). Prevalence of Impostor Syndrome and its association with anxiety among undergraduate students: a cross-sectional study. Annals of Allied Health Sciences, 12(1), 3–8. Retrieved from https://aahs.kmu.edu.pk/index.php/aahs/article/view/305

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 1 (2026): Annals of Allied Health Sciences

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Sidra, Kainat Zulfiqar, Ayesha Afzal Khan, Shama Hammad, Muhammad Atif, Mashal Gul

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.