Abstract
The present study investigated the experience of impostor phenomenon and motivation among female first-generation undergraduate students. Prior research exploring impostor phenomenon and motivation failed to examine the experience of impostor phenomenon among female first-generation undergraduate students. The current study operationally defined motivation as attributions of successes and failures. The current study recruited participants from a public university in Northern California, through the Child Development Program and through a program aimed at retaining and supporting undergraduate students. Participants were administered electronic surveys. Measures included the Clance Impostor Scale (1985) and a modified version of a measure that assessed attributions of academic successes and failures (McClure et al., 2011). Female first-generation students on average reported experiencing moderate levels of impostor feelings. Furthermore, the current study found a relationship between participants reporting impostor feelings and participants attributing their lack of academic success to their abilities and attributing their successes to luck. However, participants’ impostor phenomenon scores were not predictive of their motivation. The study provides the university and its stakeholders some insight into the female first-generation students within the student population.