Updated 3 November 2026
How is my self-esteem?
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, 10 items, 2 minutes
Self-esteem, in Rosenberg's sense, is your overall sense of your own worth: whether, on the whole, you are satisfied with yourself and feel you have good qualities. These ten statements are the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the most widely used measure of it, in the public domain.
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0 of 10 answered. Below is a list of statements dealing with your general feelings about yourself. If you strongly agree, circle SA. If you agree with the statement, circle A. If you disagree, circle D. If you strongly disagree, circle SD.
Your results
Your answers and results are stored only in this browser, on this device. Nothing is sent to us. A share link carries your scores in the link itself.
Understanding your scores
Self-esteem
High. People who score high agree that they are a person of worth on an equal plane with others, have a number of good qualities, can do things as well as most people and take a positive attitude toward themselves. In daily life that shows as taking setbacks as events rather than verdicts, accepting praise and criticism without much fuss, and not needing much reassurance. The scale measures global self-esteem, a stable sense of worth, not confidence in any particular skill.
Low. People who score low agree that they are inclined to feel they are a failure, do not have much to be proud of, wish they had more respect for themselves and at times think they are no good at all. In daily life that shows as discounting achievements, taking criticism hard, and needing more reassurance than others. Self-esteem moves with mood and circumstances, so a low score is a reading of now rather than a fixed fact, and the statement that results describe tendencies applies with full force here.
How reliable is this test
No reliability figures are published for this instrument.
No published norms exist for this instrument, so the results show raw scores against the possible range and no percentiles.
The University of Maryland page reports test-retest correlations of .82 to .88 and coefficient alpha of .77 to .88 across samples, citing Blascovich and Tomaka (1993) and Rosenberg (1986). No single figure is published for the scale as a whole, so none is stored in the instrument file.
Limits worth knowing: the scale measures global self-esteem at the moment you answer, and it does move with mood and circumstances; a change between attempts is usual. No percentile norm table is published by the scale's owner, so the marker is drawn against the possible range.
Questions people ask
What does a Rosenberg score mean?
Scored one to four per item, the scale runs from 10 to 40; the scale's owner also describes scoring from 0 to 30, which is the same minus ten. Higher means higher self-esteem. The owner publishes no percentile norms and says that norms for a sample like yours have to be found in the research literature, so the site draws your score against the possible range and does not invent a comparison.
Is self-esteem the same as confidence?
No. Confidence is about what you can do; self-esteem is about what you are worth. People can be confident in their work and low in self-esteem, or the reverse.
Does self-esteem change over a lifetime?
Yes. It moves with mood and events in the short term, and on average rises from adolescence through middle age before declining in old age. Retaking the scale after six months shows your own trend.
Does a low score mean something is wrong?
No. It is a research measure of how people see themselves, used across whole populations, and a score is not a diagnosis of anything.
Where do my answers go?
Nowhere. The test is scored in your browser and the result is kept only on this device. If you choose to share a link, your scores are inside the link itself and nothing is sent to this site.
Sources and licence
Instrument: Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Scoring key: https://socy.umd.edu/about-us/using-rosenberg-self-esteem-scale, items from https://socy.umd.edu/sites/socy.umd.edu/files/Rosenberg%20SE%20Scale.jpg, checked 2026-11-03.
Licence: Public domain. The University of Maryland Department of Sociology states that the scale may be used without charge and without notifying the department, including translations or adaptations, consistent with traditional scholarly attribution. https://socy.umd.edu/about-us/using-rosenberg-self-esteem-scale Credit: Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Morris Rosenberg (1965).