The Relation Between Well-Being, Impostor Feelings, and Gender Role Orientation Among Canadian University Students

A theoretical model of well-being identifies 6 key components that have been examined primarily in older adults (e.g., C. D. Ryff, 1989c, 1991): self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth (C. D. Ryff, 1995; C. D. Ryff & C. L. M. Keyes, 1995; C. D. Ryff & B. Singer, 1996). The authors examined them in a sample of 379 Canadian university students to determine how well-being was correlated with endorsement of stereotypic gender roles and with the impostor phenomenon. The participants completed Ryff's Scales of Psychological Well-Being (Ryff, personal communication, March 1996), the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (P. R. Clance & M. A. O'Toole, 1988), and the Extended Personal Attributes Questionnaire (J. T. Spence, R. L. Helmreich, & C. K. Holahan, 1979). The results supported the hypotheses that (a) people with higher scores for expressive traits score higher for well-being stemming from positive relations with others, (b) people with higher scores for instrumental traits score higher for well-being related to feelings of autonomy, (c) people with higher scores for impostor feelings (and lower scores for ability confidence) score lower for self-acceptance and (d) for environmental mastery.