Self-esteem is intimately linked to our subjective assessment of ourselves, good self-esteem will always generate great well-being, while at its lowest levels a depressive mood can be installed.
That’s why it’s so important to take care of our self-esteem and evaluate it, because it doesn’t freeze, it always changes, one of the tools that can be found in psychology that can help us achieve this goal is Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale.
- This scale is small.
- Fast.
- Reliable and very valid.
- It is one of the most common tools that psychologists use to evaluate people’s self-concept.
- It is also often used when you want to measure this variable in some research.
“If you don’t know how to value yourself, anyone will know how to use it. “
Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale is named after its creator, Morris Rosenberg, a professor and doctor of sociology who has spent many years of his life studying self-esteem and self-concept. He presented the initial proposal of scale in his book: “Society and Self-Esteem in Adolescents”.
Morris Rosenberg’s scale consists of 10 claims that revolve around the value the person values themselves (if it is too much or too little) and their satisfaction with themselves, the first 5 statements are positively worded and the remaining 5 negatively path.
Each positive statement is rated from 0 (nothing agrees) to 3 (totally agreed), while negative statements are recorded in the opposite direction of 3 (no agreement) and 0 (totally agree).
Let’s see what these statements are
1. I feel that I am a person worthy of appreciation, at least as much as the others. 2. I feel like I have positive qualities. 3. They usually lead me to think I’m a loser. 4. I’m able to do it. do things as well as most people. 5. I feel like I have nothing to be proud of. 6. I have a positive attitude towards myself. 7. Overall, I am satisfied with moi-me. 8. Me’d like to have more respect for myself. 9. Sometimes I feel useless. 10 Sometimes I think it’s useless.
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. ” – Anonymous-
Positive statements (1, 2, 4, 6, 7) and negative statements (3, 5, 8, 9, 10) are mixed and the score result gives an idea of the respondent’s self-esteem. For example, a score below 15 indicates very low self-esteem, proving that this is one aspect the person should work on.
Between 15 and 25 points shows healthy self-esteem and this is within the parameters of what is considered “balanced”. A score of more than 25 shows us a strong and solid person. In this sense, such a high score could also show reality analysis problems or people too satisfied with themselves. The ideal score ranges from 15 to 25 points.
Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale, although initially aimed only at teenagers, has been adapted for adults, allowing us to evaluate entire populations and even different cultures, leading to some very interesting conclusions.
One of these findings found that people living in individualistic societies, such as the United States, feel very competent but dissatisfied with themselves, but this is not the case in places like Japan, where collectivism manifests itself where self-satisfaction is greatest, even if the sense of competition decreases enormously.
In addition, the scale concluded that extroverted and emotionally stable people have better self-esteem, while introverted and emotionally unstable people tend to have low self-esteem.
Despite all these findings, Rosenberg’s scale of self-esteem revealed that in general all people, men or women, young or old, tend to self-assess positively, so a question arises: does this happen because people are ashamed to admit their flaws, those who make them feel bad, or simply because they are not able to recognize them?
“Learn to respect and love yourself, because you will be by your side for life. ” – Anonymous-
Rosenberg’s scale survives today to solve a common problem in psychology: measuring certain variables that influence our behavior, thoughts and emotions, their formulation and survival remind us how important it is to monitor and care for our self-esteem, so that it is always at a level that brings us balance and well-being. Good self-esteem is one of the pillars of well-being and, at the same time, the key to feeling happy and comfortable in the different areas of our lives.
Will they dare take the test and find out how much they like each other?
Images courtesy of Kathrin Honesta.