The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale: What Is It About?
Self-esteem is a construct that refers to the subjective assessment that people make of themselves. It differs from self-concept in that it deals with an emotional dimension, not a cognitive one. Low self-esteem is related to depression and risk behaviors, while high self-esteem usually leads to greater psychological well-being.
The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, a short test with good psychometric properties, is the most widely used instrument for evaluating self-esteem in clinical practice and in scientific research.
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Morris Rosenberg, the creator of the scale
Dr. Morris Rosenberg received his doctorate in Sociology from Columbia University in 1953. Later he worked at Cornell University and at the National Institute of Mental Health in the United States.
In 1965 he published the book Society and the adolescent’s self-image (Society and adolescent self-esteem ”), through which presented his self-esteem scale.
He was Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland between 1975 and 1992, the year of his death. His work on self-esteem and self-concept has survived him and to this day he continues to be an important reference in these fields.
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The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale
The Rosenberg self-esteem scale consists of ten items; each of them is an affirmation on self-worth and self-satisfaction. Half of the sentences are formulated in a positive way, while the other five refer to negative opinions.
Each item is scored from 0 to 3 depending on the degree to which the person who answers identifies with the statement that constitutes it. Thus, 0 corresponds to strongly disagree and 3 to totally agree.
The items that make up the Rosenberg scale are the following:
- I feel that I am a person worthy of appreciation, at least as much as others.
- I feel like I have positive qualities.
- In general, I am inclined to think that I am a failure.
- I am capable of doing things as well as most others.
- I feel like I don't have much to be proud of.
- I adopt a positive attitude towards myself.
- Overall, I am satisfied with myself.
- I would like to have more respect for myself.
- Sometimes I certainly feel useless.
- Sometimes I think I am useless.
Positive items (1, 2, 4, 6 and 7) are scored from 0 to 3, while items 3, 5, 8, 9 and 10 are scored in the opposite direction. A score below 15 indicates low self-esteem, with normal self-esteem between 15 and 25 points. 30 is the highest possible score.
What is it for?
The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale is the most widely used psychological instrument to measure self-esteem. This is because it is administered very quickly, as it consists of only 10 items, and because its reliability and validity are high.
Adolescents were the initial target of the self-esteem scale, although it has been generalized to the study of adults. It is used to assess both general and clinical populations, including people with substance abuse problems.
The Rosenberg scale has been validated in men and women of all ages in a large number of countries and has been used in cross-cultural studies in more than 50 countries.
On the other hand, it must be taken into account that knowing the level of self-esteem of people is a way of approaching their most internalized beliefs about themselves. People with some mental disorders or social, mood and assertiveness problems tend to have low self-esteem, which makes it more difficult for them to take ambitious initiatives to improve their situation.
For example, a person with low self-esteem will tend to attribute her successes to luck or the participation of external persons or entities, such as the help of a family member; This means that they do not experience these "good times" as a reward that they want to access again in the future. (or, at least, to the same extent that it would be seen as a reward by someone with good self-esteem).
Findings of the Rosenberg scale
Cross-cultural studies conducted with the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale have found that people tend to evaluate ourselves in a positive way, regardless of the culture to which we belong.
However, the components of self-esteem they do vary depending on the culture. Thus, people in more individualistic societies (such as the United States) tend to feel more competent but less satisfied with themselves than those of collectivist cultures, for example that of Japan.
The scale has confirmed the relationship of self-esteem with two of the 5 great personality factors: Extraversion and Neuroticism. People who are more outgoing and have a lower level of neuroticism (as opposed to emotional stability) tend to have higher self-esteem. In fact, it is hypothesized that self-esteem can protect from anxiety symptoms.
Psychometric properties: reliability and validity
The original sample contained 5,024 participants, all of them New York high school students; As we have said, Rosenberg developed the scale initially to be used in adolescents. A large number of subsequent studies have confirmed the reliability and validity of the Rosenberg self-esteem scale.
In psychometrics, the term “reliability” refers to the absence of measurement errors, while validity defines the degree to which the instrument measures what it intends to measure.
The test-retest reliability is between 0.82 and 0.88, and Cronbach's alpha coefficient, which measures internal consistency, is between 0.76 and 0.88. The criterion validity is 0.55. What's more the scale inversely correlates with anxiety and depression (-0.64 and -0.54, respectively). These values confirm the good psychometric properties of the Rosenberg self-esteem scale.
Bibliographic references:
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. callhelpline.org.uk, The Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: 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, 623-42.
