Longitudinal associations between sense of belonging, imposter syndrome, and first-year college students’ mental health

Abstract

Objective: The first year of college is a time of major changes in social dynamics, raising questions about ways to promote students’ mental health. We examined longitudinal associations between students’ sense of belonging, imposter syndrome, depressive symptoms, and well-being. Participants: Fifty-eight first-year college students at a university in the United States participated in the study. Methods: Students completed questionnaires during the first 6 months of college (T1) and at the end of the academic year (T2). Results: Greater sense of social and academic belonging was correlated with lower imposter syndrome, depression, and greater well-being at T1. Accounting for T1 measures, lower imposter syndrome predicted greater well-being but not depression at T2. Accounting for T1 mental health, belonging was not a significant predictor of depression or well-being at T2. Conclusion: Increasing sense of belonging and addressing imposter syndrome early in the transition to college may be critical in promoting mental health.

Keywords:

• Belonging
• college students
• depression
• imposter syndrome
• well-being

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States of America and received approval from the Vanderbilt University Institutional Review Board.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, A.D., upon reasonable request.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes that do not affect the academic content.

Additional information

Funding

S.P. was supported by NIMH grants T32-MH18921 and F31-MH127817. This research was supported in part by NCATS/NIH UL1 TR000445.