Perceived Parental Perfectionism as a Predictor of the Impostor Phenomenon Among Filipino Honor Students

The development of the Impostor Phenomenon (IP) is suggested to stem from one’s family. With IP being consistently linked to the multidimensional trait of perfectionism, the current research looked into how Perceived Parental Perfectionism (PPP), measured through the domains of Parental Expectations (PEs) and Parental Criticism (PC) as deduced from Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS), predicts IP. It was hypothesized that both PEs and PC will positively predict IP. A total sample of 169 (141 females and 28 males) high-achieving Filipino undergraduate students participated in the present study. The results revealed that although PEs and PC have a significant relationship with IP, only PC has been found to be a predictor of IP. This indicates that high-achieving students are likely to doubt their academic success when theirparents are overly critical of their achievements. On the other hand,the mere presence of high parental expectations, without accompanying criticism, does not correlate with theimpostor phenomenon.