Date
1-16-2025
Department
School of Behavioral Sciences
Degree
Doctor of Education in Community Care and Counseling (EdD)
Chair
Catherine Packer-Williams
Keywords
Black women, African American women, trauma, imposter phenomenon, racial trauma, race-based trauma, gendered racial stereotypes, gendered racial microaggression
Disciplines
Counseling | Education
Recommended Citation
Ray, Tarra Lynn Winfield, "Investigating the Correlation Between Racially Based Trauma and the Imposter Phenomenon in High-Achieving Black Women" (2025). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 6453.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/6453
Abstract
This study investigates the imposter phenomenon, racially based trauma, and how the two correlate among high-achieving Black women. High achieving for this writing refers to Black women who attend college or graduate school, those in professional positions that require a degree, advanced degree, or professional licensure (i.e., corporate executives, medical doctors, attorneys, mental health clinicians, etc.), and entrepreneurs. Many current studies have focused on the unique and complex experiences that high-achieving Black women face while working to achieve goals and gain success. Many of these women have experienced racially based trauma, and many endorse the simultaneous experiencing of the imposter phenomenon. However, what is unclear in the current research is how racially based trauma and imposter phenomenon correlate in this population. This growing body of research has often focused on collecting qualitative data through small sample sizes. This correlational study can offer insight into the suspected large numbers of high-achieving Black women who have experienced racially based trauma and endorse experiencing the imposter phenomenon. The findings may have implications for developing racially relevant treatment interventions for high-achieving Black women who have experienced imposter syndrome and race-based trauma.
