The Relationship between Parental Psychological Control and Imposter Syndrome through the Mediation of Academic Procrastination in Gifted Students

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between parental psychological control and imposter syndrome through the mediation of academic procrastination in gifted students of Karaj city in 2019. The research design was causal-correlational and had a field type. The statistical population included 300 girl students of gifted high schools in Karaj city and 169 of which were selected as the sample of the study based on stratified random sampling and using Morgan’s sample size table. The research instruments included the Academic Procrastination Scale, the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS), and Parental Psychological Control Scale. Data were analyzed by descriptive, inferential statistics, and structural equation modeling (SEM). The results showed a significant positive relationship between dependency-oriented psychological control (DPC) and imposter syndrome in gifted students (P= 0.0001); however, there was no significant relationship between achievement-oriented psychological control (APC) and imposter syndrome. A significant positive relationship was found between academic procrastination and imposter syndrome (P= 0.0001); however, there was no significant relationship between DPC and academic procrastination. Academic procrastination significantly mediated the relationship between APC and imposter syndrome (P= 0.0001); however, it had no significant effect on the relationship between DPC and imposter syndrome. The results indicated that parental psychological control and imposter syndrome significantly affects academic procrastination in gifted students.