More Self-Esteem Tests and Assessments
The world of tests and assessments is abundant with options. Some are suitable for adults, others for children. Many researchers even adapt scales to make them suitable for different cultures. Below are several examples of scales falling into these categories.
The Hare Self-Esteem Scale is a general and area-specific scale developed by Bruce Hare for use with children. The scale measures self-esteem as it relates to home, peer, and school. Shoemaker (1980) found support for “area-specific self-esteem as a valid construct.”
Self-esteem significantly associated with:
- social class (home)
- Recent family moves (peer)
- Test anxiety, reading, and mathematics achievement (school)
The reliability of the sub-scales is adequate at r=.56–.65, and it is slightly stronger for the general scale (r=.74; YouthRex, n.d.a).
Adolescents respond to a 30-item questionnaire using a Likert scale. Averaging the sub-scales yields a general self-esteem score. Unlike the RSES, there is no need to reverse score negatively worded items.
The Lawrence Self-Esteem Questionnaire (LAWSEQ) uses a three-point Likert scale appropriate for use with primary school children. The central construct measured is interpersonal competencies. The original scale, developed in 1981, resulted from work with first-year students in Belfast, Northern Ireland (N=120).
The most recent version, published in 2011, includes 16 items. It is self-scored, and there are no sub-scores. The result is an overall self-esteem score. The LAWSEQ has an alpha of .73. The scale is unidimensional (Rand Corporation, 2018).
The Single-Item Self-Esteem Scale (SISE) developed by Robins, Hendin, and Trzesniewski (2001) measures global self-esteem using one question. Respondents rate their level of agreement with the statement, “I have high self-esteem.” The 5-point scale ranges from 1 (not very true of me) to 5 (very true of me).
Some might argue that a single-item scale cannot offer much, but the authors found compelling evidence for it. Over the course of four studies examining construct validity of RSES and SISE, they found:
- Strong convergent validity for men and women, different ethnic groups, college students, and community members
- Almost identical correlations for domain-specific self-evaluations, self-evaluative biases, academic outcomes, and demographic variables
A fourth study involved children and showed moderate convergent validity (Robins et al., 2001).
Determining the reliability of a single-item scale is not possible. Instead, the authors utilized the Heise procedure to estimate it. This allows researchers to assess reliability based on autocorrelations at three different points in time (Robins et al., 2001).
Why would it be important to measure the stability of self-esteem? The next two scales do precisely that because stability is “an important variable affecting psychological functioning” (Altmann & Roth, 2018).
The Self-Esteem Stability Scale provides insights into fluctuations in levels of self-esteem. It looks at short periods. Altmann and Roth (2018) developed this unidimensional three-item scale to assess stability more directly. It has an alpha of .71.
Chabrol, Rousseau, and Callahan (2006) created the Instability of Self-Esteem Scale to complement the RSES. It is a four-item questionnaire that gauges changes in self-esteem. In their studies, they showed an internal consistency of .89. Test-retest reliability was .89. Concurrent validity was r= .81 (Chabrol et al., 2006).
The four items included in the scale are:
Item 1: Sometimes I feel worthless; at other times I feel that I am worthwhile.
Item 2: Sometimes I feel happy with myself; at other times I feel very unhappy with myself.
Item 3: Sometimes I feel useless; at other times I feel very useful.
Item 4: Sometimes I feel very bad about myself; at other times I feel very good about myself.
If you’re interested in learning more, you may want to read through our selection of the 10+ best self-esteem books.
A Take-Home Message
Many mental health professionals are familiar with the scales mentioned in this article. For the layperson or the newly minted life coach, they might be new. If that describes you, then remember this:
Reliability and validity are critical. Knowing with whom a scale should be used is equally important. Interpretation of an instrument is only one piece of the puzzle.
There is an entire field devoted to the theories and techniques involved in psychological measurement. For more information about psychometrics, visit the Buros Center.
At the end of the day, when everyone returns to their respective corners of the world, remember this from Jack Canfield:
“Self-esteem is made up primarily of two things: feeling lovable and feeling capable.”
Self-esteem scales are simply a tool to help us realize those two things.
How are you using self-esteem scales to either improve your life or the lives of others? Comment below. We enjoy hearing from you!
Related: Building Self-Esteem: 7 Effective Tools & Activities
We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Self Compassion Exercises for free.
What our readers think
My name is Nafeesa Altaf, and I am doing my Masters in Research Psychology , I am working on my thesis titled:”The Potential of Art Therapy as a Holistic Mental Health Intervention among Cervical Cancer Patients in Pakistan.”
As part of my study, I would like to assess participants’ self-esteem levels, and I have found the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) to be a well-established and widely respected tool for this purpose.
I am writing to kindly request your permission to use the RSES in my thesis research. The scale will be used strictly for academic purposes, and full acknowledgment will be provided in the final thesis and any related presentations or publications.
If there are any formal requirements, licensing forms, or guidelines for use, I would be grateful if you could share them with me.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration. I deeply appreciate your contribution to the field and would be honored to incorporate your work into my research.
Sincerely,
Nafeesa Altaf
Hi Nafeesa,
This scale is freely available to use and a copy of it with scoring information can be accessed here.
Hope this helps!
Warm regards,
Julia | Community Manager
Hi Sir/ma’am
I am a student of BS Applies Psychology at Bahauddin Zakariya University,Multan. I am conducting a research as it is my academic requirement. I would like to use Rosenberg self-esteem Scale in my research. Kindly grant permission. Thank you
Hi there,
This scale is freely available to use and a copy of it with scoring information can be accessed here.
Hope this helps!
Warm regards,
Julia | Community Manager
Hello,
I am a PhD. student in Social work at Bucharest University and I would like to ask the permission to use the this test for my thesis and can I have the permission to translate it also in romanian? Thank you!
Hi there,
Which test are you referring to? 🙂
Many scales are freely available to use, so you shouldn’t need written permission from the creators.
Hope this helps!
Warm regards,
Julia | Community Manager