Campus racial climate and impostor phenomenon among Black college students: The mediating roles of social anxiety and self-esteem

Negative appraisals of campus racial climate (CRC) have been associated with diverse negative psychosocial and academic outcomes among Black college students. However, mechanisms that explain the association between CRC and suboptimal well-being indicators have been seldom explored. Further, examinations of the psychosocial and academic implications of CRC appraisals across different institutions of higher education (i.e., predominately White institutions (PWIs) and historically Black colleges/universities (HBCUs)), remain limited. To address these gaps in the literature, the current study examined the mediating roles of social anxiety and self-esteem in the association between CRC and impostor phenomenon (cognitions of intellectual incompetence) among Black students attending PWIs and HBCUs. Data were drawn from a cross-sectional study of Black college students attending PWIs and HBCUs in the southeastern United States (N = 270, 76% female). Results from path analysis showed that, when indirect effects were not considered, CRC was positively associated with impostor phenomenon, but only for students attending PWIs. Examinations of unique indirect effects revealed that negative perceptions of CRC were associated with IP through social anxiety among students attending HBCUs, but not PWIs. Serial mediation analysis showed that social anxiety and in turn self-esteem explained the association between CRC and impostor phenomenon among Black students regardless of institutional racial composition. Our findings have implications for future research and practice that aim to enhance perceptions of CRC to augment positive campus experiences and academic outcomes of Black students as they matriculate to and through institutions of higher education.