Scale library · Psychology & mental health
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale: Rosenberg (1965)
Morris Rosenberg (1965) built this scale with more than 5,000 New York State high school students to measure global self-esteem, a person's positive or negative attitude toward the self. It has 10 items, half positively and half negatively worded. It is the most widely used self-esteem scale in the world and appears in theses on body image, social media use, school bullying and student mental health.
Cite the original, not the blog.
- Model or scale: RSES
- Constructs: 1
- Items: 10 (5 reverse-coded)
Original English items
Items marked (R) are reverse-coded: recode them before computing reliability or scale scores. Replace bracketed placeholders such as [system] with the name of the system, brand or organization you study.
Self-Esteem (RSE, 10 items)
| Code | Item wording | Reverse-coded |
|---|---|---|
| RSE1 | On the whole, I am satisfied with myself. | No |
| RSE2 (R) | At times, I think I am no good at all. | Yes |
| RSE3 | I feel that I have a number of good qualities. | No |
| RSE4 | I am able to do things as well as most other people. | No |
| RSE5 (R) | I feel I do not have much to be proud of. | Yes |
| RSE6 (R) | I certainly feel useless at times. | Yes |
| RSE7 | I feel that I'm a person of worth, at least on an equal plane with others. | No |
| RSE8 (R) | I wish I could have more respect for myself. | Yes |
| RSE9 (R) | All in all, I am inclined to feel that I am a failure. | Yes |
| RSE10 | I take a positive attitude toward myself. | No |
Response scale
4-point agreement scale without a midpoint: Strongly agree (3), Agree (2), Disagree (1), Strongly disagree (0). The five negative items (RSE2, RSE5, RSE6, RSE8, RSE9) are scored in reverse: Strongly agree = 0 … Strongly disagree = 3. Summing the 10 items gives 0–30; higher scores mean higher self-esteem. Some studies score 1–4, giving a total of 10–40.
Recoding reverse-coded items: 0–3 scale: new score = 3 − score; 1–4 scale: new score = 1 + 4 − score = 5 − score.
Licence and permission
Free for research and education without permission, according to the University of Maryland Department of Sociology (custodian of Rosenberg's materials) as quoted by PsyToolkit; cite Rosenberg. The author's family would like to be informed of its use.
Sources (APA 7)
- Ho, Q. B., Tran, H. T. L., Nguyen, D. T. T., Tran, T. T., & Tran, L. T. K. (2026). The mediating role of self-esteem in the link between attachment relationships and stress among Vietnamese nursing students: A cross-sectional survey. International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances, 10, 100500. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnsa.2026.100500
- Nguyen, D. T., Hua, T. D., Nguyen, T. T. T., Pham, N. H., Nguyen, H. N., Ho, C. S. H., Tran-Chi, V.-L., Lin, K., & Lin, C.-Y. (2026). Mental health problems as mediators between self-esteem and internet addiction among adolescents. BMC Public Health, 26, 1574. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-026-27258-8
- Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton University Press.
- Schmitt, D. P., & Allik, J. (2005). Simultaneous administration of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale in 53 nations: Exploring the universal and culture-specific features of global self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89(4), 623–642. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.89.4.623
- Trung, C. T. T., Dat, N. T., Teh, C. J., & Tee, P. K. (2025). Psychological capital and mental health problems among the unemployed in the post-COVID-19 era: Self-esteem as a moderator. PLOS ONE, 20(3), e0319555. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0319555
Vietnamese translation
A Vietnamese translation of every item, with sample-size advice and studies that used the scale, is on the Vietnamese page for this scale.