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SELF-ESTEEM · ROSENBERG SCALE

Free Self-Esteem Test

How do you feel about yourself in general? The ten-item Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, about three minutes — one total from 0 to 30, no cut-off, and no diagnosis.

What the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale measures

The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale measures global self-esteem, a general judgement of one's own worth. Morris Rosenberg published the ten-item scale in 1965. Five statements are worded negatively and reverse-scored; each is answered on a four-point agreement scale, giving a total from 0 to 30. The scale has no validated clinical cut-off and is not diagnostic.

Self-esteem here means a general judgement of your own worth, not how well you do at particular things. The scale asks about that overall view in ten statements, five worded positively and five negatively.

How the score works

Each statement is answered from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The negatively worded statements (items 2, 5, 6, 8 and 9) are reverse-scored, so a higher total always means more positive self-regard. The total runs from 0 to 30. The arithmetic midpoint of 15 is the centre of that range, not an average of people.

Why there is no label

The scale has no validated clinical cut-off and is not a diagnostic tool. A total is a position on a range, not a category, so this site does not call a score “low” or “high”, and it does not show a percentile.

What one total cannot see

The total is your answers on one day. It does not show why you feel the way you do, what your self-esteem depends on, or how it will change. If you keep feeling worthless, or have thoughts of harming yourself, contact a local crisis line or emergency services.

What is free and what the report adds

Your total, where it sits on the range, the methodology, and the sources are free. The advanced report adds what the scale measures, a reading of your total, what a self-esteem score cannot tell you, how self-esteem moves, practices worth trying, when to bring in someone else, a closing synthesis, and an AI reflection module.

COMMON QUESTIONS

Self-esteem questions, answered

What does my score mean?

It is a total from 0 to 30 across ten statements, and higher means more positive self-regard. The scale has no validated clinical cut-off, so this site gives no label. The midpoint of 15 is the centre of the range, not an average of people.

Is a low score a sign of depression?

Not on its own. The scale is not diagnostic and does not ask about mood disorders. A low total that lasts, or that comes with persistent low mood, loss of interest, or hopelessness, is worth raising with a GP or a mental-health professional.

Why are some statements reverse-scored?

Five statements describe low self-regard, such as 'I am no good at all' and 'I am a failure'. They are scored in reverse so that a higher total always means more self-regard. Each item can move the total by at most three points.

Can I compare my score with other people?

Not on this site. Published cross-national averages exist, but this site has not verified them against the original article, so it shows no comparison. The score is most useful as a reference point for yourself over time.

SOURCES

Where this test comes from

  1. [1]
    Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ↗

    The book in which the scale was published. The link is the University of Maryland Department of Sociology page that hosts the scale; it gives the scale's public-domain status and the citation it asks for, including the 1989 revised edition (Wesleyan University Press).