Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSES)

The Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSES) is a ten-item test meant to evaluate a person's self-esteem, or confidence in and respect for him- or herself. The test was created around 1965 by American sociologist Morris Rosenberg. The ten items are statements relating to different aspects of self-esteem, such as whether a person feels valuable or feels like a failure. The test is easily administered and graded, with responses linked to numeric values. Based on the test, respondents with a high numeric score tend to have higher self-esteem overall. The RSES has become a common fixture in sociology, psychology, and psychiatry to evaluate people of all ages and sexes in both clinical and general populations.

Background

The developer of the RSES was Morris Rosenberg, an American sociologist born in New York City on May 6, 1922. Rosenberg studied at Brooklyn College and Columbia University, where he focused on sociology. In 1957, he became a sociological researcher in the National Institute of Mental Health's Laboratory on Socioenvironmental Studies. In 1975, Rosenberg returned to academics, becoming a professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. In the later decades of his career, Rosenberg held high offices in and won awards from several regional and national sociological societies. He remained active in teaching and researching until his death in 1992.

During his stint with the National Institute of Mental Health, Rosenberg produced many of his most influential experiments, theories, and publications. The main topic of his work was self-esteem, the confidence and respect people hold toward themselves. Rosenberg wrote famously on the subject in Society and the Adolescent Self-Image. Other writings that touched upon self-esteem and related sociological factors included Conceiving the Self, The Unread Mind, and Black and White Self-Esteem.

In the middle of the twentieth century, when Rosenberg began conducting his most important studies, self-esteem was a burgeoning topic in sociology, psychiatry, and psychology. Researchers discovered that self-esteem and other aspects of self-attitude had a profound effect on an individual's personal development and, by extension, that person's ultimate role in and effect on society. Self-esteem might even help form a person's other perceptions, attitudes, and approaches. In that manner, self-esteem could potentially affect an endless range of human interaction on many levels.

Rosenberg took particular interest in the state of self-esteem among adolescents. In the later stages of adolescence, roughly between the ages of fifteen and eighteen, young people generally become very concerned with their self-image. During this time, youths undergo many physical and psychological changes as they transition from childhood to adulthood. They often wonder where they rank among their friends and in society, whether they have the skills necessary to succeed in the future, how they will approach dating and other important social practices, and so on. Evaluating, understanding, and helping to improve adolescent self-esteem could have many great benefits for individuals and societies.

Overview

Rosenberg found the existing body of knowledge on self-esteem to be incomplete, with the concept poorly defined and shrouded in mystery. He approached self-esteem as an attitude toward the self, encompassing facts, opinions, and values. He believed that self-attitudes were just one variety of the overall body of attitudes that people hold toward objects in general. Like these other attitudes, self-attitudes may differ in many ways. They may have different contents, directions, and strengths and different levels of importance, clarity, and consistency.

Rosenberg attempted to invent a method for evaluating all of these aspects of self-esteem briefly and concisely. Around 1965, he devised a ten-item test based on the Guttman scale or Likert scale format. This format allows test-takers to respond on a scale of agreement, expressing whether, and how strongly, they agree or disagree with a statement. The ten statements, written in plain terms, express a variety of self-esteem perceptions. They ask whether respondents are satisfied with themselves, whether they believe they have value and good qualities, and whether they feel respect for themselves.

The ten statements attempt to capture a wide view of self-esteem. Rosenberg also crafted the statements with a mix of positive and negative framing to better hold the respondent's attention and encourage more thoughtful answers. For example, a negative statement such as "I certainly feel useless at times" is followed by a positive "I feel that I am a person of worth..." For each statement, the respondent answers by marking a level of agreement: "Strongly agree," "Agree," "Disagree," or "Strongly disagree." This system made test-taking simple and guaranteed that the results were unidimensional, meaning they related to one another rather than to some external information source.

The unique design of the test won Rosenberg acclaim from many psychiatrists and sociologists. As he had planned, the test proved to be very easily administered. Whereas other self-esteem tests were complex and required specialized tools such as inkblots or measuring devices, the Rosenberg test required only a list of ten items and a means of writing an answer. Lacking that, the test could even be administered verbally. Similarly, the Rosenberg test was easy and did not take long to complete. Most respondents could complete it within about three minutes, making it an easy addition to a school evaluation.

Once the test was complete, an organizer could quickly and easily evaluate the results, usually within one minute per test. Each level of agreement to positive and negative statements was associated with a numeric value. Responses that showed high self-esteem were worth higher point values. The organizer could gain a final score by simply adding the number values of the responses. According to the test, higher final values represented higher self-esteem overall. Lower final values suggested lower self-esteem overall. The ease of scoring also meant that organizers did not require specialized training.

The RSES became a common tool in many schools and clinical evaluation facilities. Although Rosenberg had written the test with adolescents in mind, the test proved applicable to people of all ages and sexes, from both clinical and general populations. Results have generally proven reliable and accurate, though some sociologists have altered Rosenberg's original wording or adapted the test for more up-to-date mediums, such as the internet.

Bibliography

MacKinnon, Neil J. Self-Esteem and Beyond. Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

"Rosenberg Lecture / About Dr. Morris Rosenberg." U of Maryland Dept. of Sociology, 9 Apr. 2024, socy.umd.edu/about-us/rosenberg-forum. Accessed 24 Oct. 2024.

Rosenberg, Morris. Society and the Adolescent Self-Image. Princeton UP, 1965.

"Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale." Fetzer Institute, fetzer.org/sites/default/files/images/stories/pdf/selfmeasures/Self‗Measures‗for‗Self-Esteem‗ROSENBERG‗SELF-ESTEEM.pdf. Accessed 24 Oct. 2024.

"Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES)." European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, 2006, www.euda.europa.eu/drugs-library/rosenberg-self-esteem-scale‗en. Accessed 24 Oct. 2024.

"Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale." W. W. Norton & Company, www.wwnorton.com/college/psych/psychsci/media/rosenberg.htm. Accessed 24 Oct. 2024.

"Using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale." U of Maryland Dept. of Sociology, 11 June 2021, socy.umd.edu/quick-links/using-rosenberg-self-esteem-scale. Accessed 24 Oct. 2024.

Wylie, Ruth C. Measures of Self-Concept. U of Nebraska P, 1989.