Correlates of Imposter Syndrome Among Indonesian Sports Science Students (IMPOSTOR-2025)

September 8, 2026 updated by: Agus Durman, Hasanuddin University

The Contributions of Anxiety and Self-Esteem to Imposter Syndrome Among Sports Science Undergraduates in Indonesia: A Cross-Sectional Survey

This cross-sectional study was conducted from June to August 2025 among sports science undergraduates at State University of Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, following the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guidelines. Ethical clearance was granted by the Institutional Biomedical Research Ethics Committee of Hasanuddin University (PROTOKOL-UH25010017), procedures followed the 2013 Declaration of Helsinki, and written informed consent was obtained from every participant.

NOTE: This study was retrospectively registered. The study was conducted from June 2025 to August 2025 following the STROBE guidelines and received ethical clearance from the Institutional Biomedical Research Ethics Committee of Hasanuddin University prior to study initiation. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. No outcome measures, study design, or statistical analysis plan were modified following data collection.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

BACKGROUND:

Imposter syndrome, characterized by a persistent sense of intellectual phoniness and pervasive fear of exposure despite objective evidence of competence, is well documented among undergraduate populations yet remains understudied among non-medical Southeast Asian students, particularly within sports science and related health disciplines.

STUDY DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS:

This cross-sectional study was conducted from June to August 2025 among sports science undergraduates at State University of Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, following the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guidelines. Ethical clearance was granted by the Institutional Biomedical Research Ethics Committee of Hasanuddin University (PROTOKOL-UH25010017), and all procedures were conducted in accordance with the 2013 Declaration of Helsinki. Written informed consent was obtained from every participant, who could withdraw at any time without consequence, and no identifying information was disclosed. The master dataset comprised 438 respondents. Fifteen had genuine missing cumulative GPA values. Analyses not involving GPA, including descriptive, reliability, non-GPA correlation, and non-GPA group-comparison analyses, used N = 438. The GPA correlation, GPA-category comparison, simultaneous ordinary least squares regression, Huber M-estimation, median quantile regression, and hierarchical regression models used the same 423 complete cases under listwise deletion. Eligible students in semesters 3 and 4 were approached during scheduled in-person classes using a mixed paper and online administration procedure, rather than the single supervised classroom administration originally registered with ClinicalTrials.gov. Students could complete a paper-based questionnaire immediately during the class break or within 48 hours; alternatively, they could complete an equivalent online version distributed via the official student communication platform. Two reminder messages were sent at 7-day intervals to non-respondents. No monetary or academic incentives were provided for participation. Data were collected using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) scale, and the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS). The analyses included Spearman's rank correlations, Mann-Whitney U tests, simultaneous ordinary least squares regression, hierarchical multiple linear regression, Huber M-estimation, and median quantile regression at τ = 0.50. The analyses identified adjusted associations rather than causal or predictive relationships, consistent with the cross-sectional design.

MEASURES AND INSTRUMENTS:

Self-esteem, anxiety, and imposter syndrome were assessed using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) scale, and the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS), respectively. The RSES consists of 10 items scored on a four-point Likert scale, with total scores ranging from 10 to 40 and categorized as low (10-20), moderate (21-30), or high (31-40) self-esteem. The GAD-7 consists of seven items scored from 0 to 3, with total scores ranging from 0 to 21 and categorized as minimal (0-4), mild (5-9), moderate (10-14), or severe (≥15) anxiety. The CIPS consists of 20 items scored on a five-point Likert scale, with total scores ranging from 20 to 100 and categorized as none or minimal (≤40), moderate (41-60), frequent (61-80), or intense (>80) imposter syndrome.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS:

Analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 25.0 and R version 4.6.1. Internal consistency was assessed with Cronbach's alpha. Because most continuous variables were non-normally distributed, descriptive data used medians and interquartile ranges. Spearman's rank correlations and Mann-Whitney U tests with rank-biserial correlations were applied for bivariate analyses. GPA-related analyses used 423 complete cases after listwise deletion of 15 observations with missing GPA values. Simultaneous ordinary least-squares regression, hierarchical regression, Huber M-estimation, and median quantile regression were conducted. For the primary OLS regression coefficients, estimates used 5,000 bias-corrected and accelerated (BCa) bootstrap resamples (seed = 123). For Huber M-estimation, P-values were derived from the asymptotic normal approximation to robust test statistics. For median quantile regression (τ = 0.50), P-values were calculated using XY-bootstrap standard errors from 5,000 resamples (seed = 123). Model diagnostics assessed residual normality, homoscedasticity, multicollinearity, residual independence, and influential observations. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Adequacy of the analytic sample was benchmarked using Green's sample-size heuristic (N ≥ 50 + 8k), requiring 130 for ten predictors; the complete-case sample (N = 423) exceeded this benchmark.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
438

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Indonesia
    • South Sulawesi
      • Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, 90245
        • Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Hasanuddin University, Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan KM. 10, Tamalanrea Makassar 90245, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Sports science undergraduate students enrolled in semesters three or four at State University of Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Description

Eligible participants were active undergraduate students enrolled in semesters 3 or 4 of the sports science program at State University of Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, with adequate Bahasa Indonesia proficiency, willingness to be contacted, and provision of written informed consent; students were excluded for ineligible semester, insufficient Bahasa Indonesia proficiency, unwillingness to be contacted, incomplete survey responses, refusal of consent, treated psychiatric disorder, or documented history of substance use disorder.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort

Group / Cohort

A group or subgroup of participants in an observational study that is assessed for biomedical or health outcomes.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Indonesian Sports Science Undergraduates
Sports science undergraduates (semesters 3-4) at a public state university in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, recruited from June to August 2025 (n = 438 analyzed out of 469 invited; response rate 93.4%). Participants completed a single-session, self-administered survey battery assessing psychological constructs-the CIPS, RSES, and GAD-7-alongside continuous behavioral measures (nightly sleep duration and daily social media usage) and self-reported demographic/institutional covariates (GPA, sex, age, scholarship recipiency, residential status, and organizational participation). No intervention was administered. This cross-sectional study evaluated the psychological correlates of the imposter syndrome among Indonesian sports science undergraduates, focusing specifically on the relative contributions of self-esteem and anxiety alongside related psychological, behavioral, and institutional factors.
Other: Self-Report Questionnaire Assessment
Participants completed a structured battery of validated self-report questionnaires via a mixed paper-based (completed in class or within 48 hours) and online administration, not a single supervised classroom sitting as planned. The CIPS evaluated cognitive and affective features of impostorism; the RSES measured global self-esteem; and the Indonesian-adapted GAD-7 assessed anxiety symptom severity over the preceding two weeks. Additional self-reported items captured behavioral characteristics (nightly sleep duration and daily social media usage) alongside demographic and structural information (sex, age, cumulative GPA, scholarship status, residential arrangement, and organizational participation). No therapeutic, pharmacological, behavioral, or educational intervention was administered. Data collection was observational and cross-sectional in nature, with no manipulation of variables, experimental conditions, or intervention assignment.
Other Names:
  • Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS; 20 items); Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; 10 items); Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7; 7 items)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Association Between Self-Esteem and Imposter Syndrome
Time Frame: Single time point baseline assessment (June to August 2025)
Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient (rho) evaluating the relationship between total global self-esteem scores assessed via the 10-item RSES (score range: 10-40, where higher scores indicate higher self-esteem) and total Imposter Syndrome severity scores measured using the 20-item CIPS (score range: 20-100, where higher scores denote greater impostorism severity) among sports science undergraduates. A negative correlation indicates higher self-esteem is associated with lower Imposter Syndrome severity.
Single time point baseline assessment (June to August 2025)
Association Between Anxiety Symptoms and Imposter Syndrome
Time Frame: Single time point baseline assessment (June to August 2025)
Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient (rho) evaluating the relationship between total anxiety symptom scores assessed via GAD-7 (score range: 0-21, where higher scores reflect higher anxiety severity) and total imposter syndrome severity scores (CIPS; score range: 20-100). A positive correlation indicates higher anxiety symptomatology is associated with greater imposter syndrome severity.
Single time point baseline assessment (June to August 2025)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Psychological Correlates of Imposter Syndrome
Time Frame: Single time point baseline assessment (June to August 2025)
Standardized regression coefficients (β) and unstandardized coefficients (B) derived from simultaneous-entry multiple linear regression, robust regression (Huber M-estimation), median quantile regression, and hierarchical regression models predicting total CIPS scores. Evaluated domain-specific predictors include psychological factors (RSES self-esteem, GAD-7 anxiety), behavioral habits (nightly sleep duration in hours, daily social media usage in hours), and structural/demographic covariates (biological sex, cumulative GPA, age, scholarship status, residential status, and organizational participation). Total explained variance (R², adjusted R²) and domain-specific incremental variance contributions (ΔR²) are reported.
Single time point baseline assessment (June to August 2025)
Demographic and Structural Differences in Imposter Syndrome Scores
Time Frame: Single time point baseline assessment (June to August 2025)
Between-group comparisons of total CIPS scores across categorical demographic and structural subgroups (biological sex [male vs. female], scholarship status [recipient vs. non-recipient], residential arrangement [living with family vs. dormitory], and organizational participation [active vs. non-active]) evaluated using Mann-Whitney U tests, with effect sizes quantified using rank-biserial correlations (r rb). Higher rank scores indicate higher levels of reported imposter syndrome within specific subgroups.
Single time point baseline assessment (June to August 2025)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Hasanuddin University

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Agus Durman, MD, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Hasanuddin University, Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia
  • Principal Investigator: Indrawaty Suhuyanli, MD, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Hasanuddin University, Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
June 1, 2025

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
August 31, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
August 31, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
July 21, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
July 21, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
July 24, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
September 11, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
September 8, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
September 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • DURMAN-IMPOSTOR25
  • PPDS-PSY-UNHAS-2025 (Registry Identifier: DURMAN-UNHAS25)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

Individual participant data (IPD) will not be shared publicly or upon request to protect participant privacy and confidentiality, as explicit consent for secondary data sharing by third parties was not obtained during the ethical approval and informed consent process. De-identified summary statistics and aggregate data are fully presented within the manuscript and supporting information.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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