FolioStart free
All scales

Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale

RSES
psychologysocial sciencesPublic domain

Permission: Public domain. Free to use, reproduce and adapt without asking permission. Cite the original publication.

A 10-item self-report instrument measuring global self-esteem as a unidimensional construct.

Items
10
Response format
4-point Likert scale
Version
1.0

Ready-to-cite methods sentence

Global self-esteem was measured using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), a 10-item instrument rated on a 4-point Likert scale with five items reverse-scored.

Citing this in a methods section? See the APA 7 guide (Author–date citations for psychology and the social sciences). Or compare all six citation styles.

Use RSES in Folio Surveyor

Add it to a study with the full items, scoring, and analysis built in.

Open Surveyor
Save RSES Cite RSES in a new doc

Reliability & validation

Notes
Original sample: 5,024 New York State high school juniors and seniors, scored as a Guttman scale (Rosenberg, 1965). In later samples, Cronbach's α typically ranges from .77 to .88 and test-retest correlations from .82 to .88 (Blascovich & Tomaka, 1993).
Validation population
Adolescents and adults
Test–retest
0.85
Cronbach's α
0.77–0.88

Response anchors

Strongly disagree · Disagree · Agree · Strongly agree

Known limitations

Originally developed with US adolescents; interpretation of the method-effect caused by positively and negatively worded items has been debated in the literature (e.g., Marsh, 1996). The scale is unidimensional by design.

Original citation

Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton University Press.

Questions researchers ask

What does the RSES measure?

A 10-item self-report instrument measuring global self-esteem as a unidimensional construct.

How many items does the RSES have?

The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) has 10 items.

Is the RSES free to use?

The RSES is in the public domain: free to use, reproduce and adapt without seeking permission. Cite the original source.

Is the RSES reliable?

Validation studies report Cronbach's α of 0.77–0.88, test–retest reliability of 0.85. See the reliability section for the population studied and full statistics.

Who developed the RSES, and how do I cite it?

Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton University Press.

Or track new research mentioning RSES as it publishes

Related scales

AHSAdult Dispositional Hope ScaleAMS-C 28Academic Motivation Scale — College VersionBFI-2Big Five Inventory-2BFI-44Big Five InventoryBFNEBrief Fear of Negative Evaluation ScaleBSCSBrief Self-Control Scale

Library entry verified September 2026. Metadata is provided for reference; item wording is available inside Folio Surveyor, subject to each instrument's licensing.