The Impostor Phenomenon Among Medical Students in Northwestern Nigeria: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract Background: Undergraduate Medical students, who are generally considered intelligent and high-achieving people, seldom struggle to attribute their success to their capabilities. Instead, they may find themselves in a constant state of self-doubt, attributing their achievements to external factors such as luck or deception, and experiencing an internalized fear of intellectual or professional incompetence despite clear evidence of their competence. Consequently, compromising their capabilities to fulfill academic or professional expectations. Although they may meet expectations, they often derive only a transient satisfaction from their achievements, exhibit low self-confidence, and find it difficult to acknowledge objective evidence of their abilities. Aim: To determine the prevalence of the Impostor Phenomenon and its associated factors among undergraduate medical students at Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved, 170 pre-clinical medical students (100–300 levels) at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, selected through consecutive sampling. The Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS) and a sociodemographic questionnaire were used to assess impostor syndrome. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 25, with descriptive statistics at the univariate level and Chi-square tests at the bivariate level, considering p < 0.05 as statistically significant. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 19.70 years (SD ± 2.21), with the predominant age group being 15–20 years (69.7%). The majority were male (56.6%), single (100%), in their 200 level of study (44.1%), and half of the respondents lived off-campus (50.3%). Most respondents did not participate in extracurricular activities (55.9%) and did not hold leadership positions (81.4%). The prevalence of the impostor phenomenon among respondents was as follows: the majority reported frequent impostor feelings (48.3%), followed by intense impostor experiences (22.1%), moderate impostor traits (24.1%), and few impostor characteristics (5.5%). No sociodemographic or study-related factor had a significant association with the impostor phenomenon. Conclusion: We found that the impostor phenomenon is common and severe among preclinical medical students at Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. It affects students across all sociodemographic groups, with no predilection for any subgroup and no protective effect from participation in school-related activities.