The Ryff Scale measures psychological wellbeing across six dimensions.
Understanding these dimensions helps individuals assess & enhance their overall mental health & life satisfaction.
Regularly evaluating psychological wellbeing can guide personal development & promote a more fulfilling life.
For years, researchers have pondered the factors that influence how people make judgments about their wellbeing.
However, until the late ‘80s, much of what we knew about wellbeing was based on a poor definition of the construct. This left much of the scientific community scratching its head and asking the same question:
What is wellbeing anyway?
This confusion was soon resolved with the introduction of Carol Ryff’s (1989a) seminal work, operationalizing and developing a six-factor measure of psychological wellbeing, which is now among the most cited measures in the world.
In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look at Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Wellbeing, teach you how to interpret the results, and point you toward a range of resources to get the most out of this simple yet powerful assessment tool.
Before 1989, considerable research was concerned with the notion of wellbeing, coinciding with the rise in the positive psychology movement. This research primarily focused on what would now be considered the related concepts of happiness, life satisfaction, and positive affect (Ryff, 2014).
While research on these concepts revealed overlapping themes around wellbeing and optimal functioning, none fully encapsulated the concept of psychological wellbeing on its own.
Today, psychological wellbeing is its own separate construct, defined as comprising six core dimensions (adapted from Ryff & Keyes, 1995):
Self-acceptance
Positive attitude toward the self; acknowledgment and acceptance of multiple aspects of self, including good and bad qualities; positive feelings about one’s past
Positive relations with others
Warm, satisfying, trusting relationships with others; concern for the welfare of others; capacity for strong empathy, affection, and intimacy; understanding of the give-and-take of relationships
Autonomy
Self-determination and independence; the ability to resist social pressures to think and act in particular ways, regulate behavior from within, and evaluate oneself based on personal standards
Environmental mastery
Sense of mastery and competence in one’s environment; the ability to control a complex array of external activities and leverage opportunities; the capacity to choose or create contexts that suit needs and values
Purpose in life
The possession of goals and a sense of direction; the feeling that there is meaning to present and past life; holding beliefs that give life purpose as well as aims and objectives for living
Personal growth
Feelings of continued development and the sense that one is growing and expanding; openness to new experiences; realization of one’s potential and perceived improvement in self and behavior over time; change that reflects greater self-knowledge and effectiveness
Each of the definitions above describes someone scoring high on the dimension of wellbeing. There are also six definitions corresponding to low scorers.
For instance, a low score on the personal growth dimension indicates feelings of personal stagnation, the sense that one is not improving or expanding over time, feelings of boredom, a lack of control, and a felt inability to develop new attitudes and behaviors.
For the full list of definitions, see the appendix of Ryff and Keyes (1995).
Interestingly, Ryff’s six dimensions of psychological wellbeing were derived from research conducted in the context of aging. In this, Ryff (1989b) pointed to limitations of existing research, including an absence of theoretical frameworks, an over-focus on ill-being, a failure to treat the construct of wellbeing as dynamic rather than static, and a failure to account for cultural and value-based differences regarding what constitutes wellbeing.
To address these problems, Ryff (1989b) integrated the perspectives of several existing theories from the fields of lifespan development (e.g., Erikson, 1959), personal growth (e.g., Rogers, 1961), and mental health (e.g., Jahoda, 1958) to reveal six dimensions that make up psychological wellbeing.
This conceptualization was then carried over into developing the Psychological Wellbeing Scales, which are applicable to a range of age groups and demographics.
A Look at the Questionnaires
Let’s now look at the items that make up the six scales and explore how the questionnaire was developed.
The most commonly used version of the Psychological Wellbeing Scales comprises 42 items and includes a combination of positively and negatively worded items. An abbreviated, 18-item version of the measure is also widely used.
What follows are some example items that feature in both the original and abbreviated questionnaires.
Note: A bracketed ‘R’ indicates items that are reverse-scored.
Self-acceptance
“When I look at the story of my life, I am pleased with how things have turned out.”
“In many ways I feel disappointed about my achievements in life.” (R)
Positive relations with others
“People would describe me as a giving person, willing to share my time with others.”
“Maintaining close relationships has been difficult and frustrating for me.” (R)
“I have confidence in my own opinions, even if they are different from the way most other people think.”
“I tend to be influenced by people with strong opinions.” (R)
Environmental mastery
“In general, I feel I am in charge of the situation in which I live.”
“The demands of everyday life often get me down.” (R)
Purpose in life
“Some people wander aimlessly through life, but I am not one of them.”
“I sometimes feel as if I’ve done all there is to do in life.” (R)
Personal growth
“For me, life has been a continuous process of learning, changing, and growth.”
“I gave up trying to make big improvements or changes in my life a long time ago.” (R)
Note that all items are measured on six-point scales ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree).
You can find an in-depth description of how the questionnaire was developed in Ryff’s original article (1989a). These procedures are briefly summarized as follows.
After developing the 12 positive and negative definitions, approximately 80 items were generated for each scale. Half of these were written to assess the positive (high-scoring) pole, and half were written to assess the negative (low-scoring) pole.
After removing redundant or ill-fitting items, a final pool of 32 items per scale was assessed against a sample of 321 adults spanning a range of ages, resulting in the removal of more items. Further items were removed based on factor loadings. Items that correlated more highly with a scale other than their own or that exhibited low correlations overall were removed, resulting in 20 items per scale.
Further refinements were made to reduce administration time with ongoing research, resulting in an 84-item scale (see Ryff, Lee, Essex, & Schmutte, 1994; Schmutte & Ryff, 1997).
The 42-item scale detailed above was derived from a longitudinal study conducted with a US national sample (see Morozink, Friedman, Coe, & Ryff, 2010). Likewise, the concise 18-item scale was designed for use in a national survey study (Ryff & Keyes, 1995). Both of these options are now publicly available for use in research or practice.
These scales sacrifice a degree of internal consistency to reduce administration time (see The Long-Form Psychological Wellbeing Scales below to learn about the more comprehensive 84- and 54-item questionnaires).
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Are the Scales Valid and Reliable?
Ryff’s (1989a) original paper revealed that the six scales exhibit acceptable internal consistency (α) ranging from .93 to .86.
Further, test–retest reliability over six weeks returned coefficients ranging from .88 to .81, suggesting that responses to the questionnaire remain fairly consistent over time in the absence of intervention. Overall, these findings suggest the questionnaire is sufficiently reliable.
Regarding validity, convergent validity was assessed by comparing the scales against existing measures of positive and negative functioning, such as the Self-Esteem Scale, the Life Satisfaction Index, and Zung’s Depression Scale (Neugarten, Havighurst, & Tobin, 1961; Rosenberg, 1979; Zung, 1965).
All correlations with these prior measures were significant and in the expected direction, suggesting the scale exhibits convergent validity.
Regarding discriminant validity, the six scales exhibit significant and strong correlations with the pre-existing measures of positive and negative functioning assessed. The strongest of these was a correlation of .73 between self-acceptance and the Life Satisfaction Index, which is quite high (Ryff, 1989a).
However, factor analysis revealed a strong ‘general wellbeing’ factor that encompassed several other pre-existing measures other than self-acceptance and environmental mastery, explaining these and other high correlations. Combined with multivariate, mean-level, and factor analysis, this evidence suggests that the scales are sufficiently distinct from existing measures (Ryff, 1989a).
Since their creation, many studies have drawn on Ryff’s scales, helping to position the construct relative to other well-established dimensions of personality and as an outcome of different interventions, behaviors, and life stages.
Here are just a few examples:
Aspects of psychological wellbeing have been linked to the different dimensions of the Big Five Personality Model. For instance, personal growth is positively linked with openness to experience, and positive relations with others is positively linked to agreeableness (Schmutte & Ryff, 1997).
Results from US national surveys reveal that parenting risks reducing the psychological wellbeing of mothers significantly more than fathers (Marks, Bumpass, & Jun, 2004).
One longitudinal study found that being a smoker predicted significantly lower scores on the purpose in life dimension of psychological wellbeing four years later (Lappan, Thorne, Long, & Hendricks, 2020).
How to Score and Interpret the Results
The first step in scoring responses on these scales is to reverse-score each of the negatively worded items, before totaling all the values.
The formula for reverse-scoring an item is:
(Number of scale points + 1) – (Respondent’s answer)
For example, if a person gave a value of three in response to one of the negatively worded items, and the scale had seven points this response would be changed to a value of 5: (7 + 1) – 3 = 5.
Once you have all your values, you can then sum the total for each scale and present this value against a possible total for each subscale.
For ease, you can download the questionnaires and scoring instructions for free at the following links:
Note: The link to the 18-item scale features different scale points and anchors to those detailed here, so be sure to amend your scoring and calculations accordingly.
Ryff and colleagues have not published global cut-offs indicating what classifies as a ‘low’ or ‘high’ score on these scales. Instead, researchers might wish to classify the lower and upper quartiles (25%) of responses as low and high, assuming a normal sample distribution.
You might also identify cut points for the lower-, middle-, and upper-scoring groups by equally dividing respondents into these groups based on their total scores.
Carol Ryff on life skills to hold onto well being
Resources From PositivePsychology.com
Looking for more tools to work on your clients’ psychological wellbeing? You’ll find many more resources throughout our blog and below.
The long-form Psychological Wellbeing Scales
Above, we have detailed the 42- and 18-item Psychological Wellbeing Scales. While these scales have the advantage of being quick to administer, practitioners looking for an especially high-quality assessment of wellbeing may wish to use the longer versions of these scales to ensure greater internal consistency.
This toolkit is filled with over 400 downloadable activities, interventions, and questionnaires to extend your offerings as a coach or therapist, so consider signing up for this fantastic resource to help grow your practice today.
More on psychological wellbeing
Ready to develop your clients’ psychological wellbeing? Here are four more resources to help your clients strengthen each of the different facets of psychological wellbeing:
High-Quality Relationships Worksheet This worksheet presents a series of six questions and reflections to help assess the quality of a particular relationship. These six areas center on factors like coping with external challenges, felt mutuality and safety, and constructive expression of emotions.
Decision-Making Worksheet for Adults This worksheet guides clients through a step-by-step process for making decisions. This exercise may be useful for clients learning to embrace their autonomy or who are working toward strengthening their independence.
Adopt a Growth Mindset
This worksheet helps clients recognize the difference between thoughts and behaviors flowing from a fixed versus growth mindset. By encouraging clients to write down and revise thoughts and behaviors flowing from a fixed mindset, they can prime themselves to begin pursuing positive development.
If you’re looking for more science-based ways to help others develop strategies to boost their wellbeing, this collection contains 17 validated happiness and wellbeing exercises. Use them to help others pursue authentic happiness and work toward a life filled with purpose and meaning.
17 Exercises To Increase Happiness and Wellbeing
Add these 17 Happiness & Subjective Well-Being Exercises [PDF] to your toolkit and help others experience greater purpose, meaning, and positive emotions.
Psychological wellbeing is a powerful indicator of human wellness. Its power lies in its ability to bring together many well-established indicators and theories of positive human functioning into a simple questionnaire. Best of all, Ryff’s scales are scientifically validated and freely available to use in your research or with your clients.
We hope you’ve found this guide on Ryff’s scales valuable. And if you’re thinking about using the scales yourself or have a burning question, let us know in the comments – we’d love to hear from you.
Erikson, E. H. (1959). Identity and the life cycle. Psychological Issues, 1, 18–164.
Jahoda, M. (1958). Current concepts of positive mental health. Basic Books.
Lappan, S., Thorne, C. B., Long, D., & Hendricks, P. S. (2020). Longitudinal and reciprocal relationships between psychological well-being and smoking. Nicotine and Tobacco Research, 22(1), 18–23. https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/nty185
Marks, N. F., Bumpass, L. L., & Jun, H. (2004). Family roles and well-being during the middle life course. In O. G. Brim, C. D. Ryff, & R. C. Kessler (Eds.), How healthy are we? A national study of well-being at midlife (pp. 514–549). University of Chicago Press.
Morozink, J. A., Friedman, E. M., Coe, C. L., & Ryff, C. D. (2010). Socioeconomic and psychosocial predictors of interleukin-6 in the MIDUS national sample. Health Psychology, 29(6), 626–635. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021360
Neugarten, B. L., Havighurst, R., & Tobin, S. (1961). The measurement of life satisfaction. Journal of Gerontology, 16, 134–143. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronj/16.2.134
Rogers, C. R. (1961). On becoming a person. Houghton Mifflin.
Rosenberg, M. (1979). Conceiving the self. Basic Books.
Ryff, C. D. (1989a). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(6), 1069–1081. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.57.6.1069
Ryff, C. D. (1989b). Beyond Ponce de Leon and life satisfaction: New directions in quest of successful ageing. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 12(1), 35–55. https://doi.org/10.1177/016502548901200102
Ryff, C. D. (2014). Psychological well-being revisited: Advances in the science and practice of eudaimonia. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 83(1), 10–28. https://doi.org/10.1159/000353263
Ryff, C. D., & Keyes, C. L. M. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(4), 719–727. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.69.4.719
Ryff, C. D., Lee, Y. H., Essex, M. J., & Schmutte, P. S. (1994). My children and me: Midlife evaluations of grown children and of self. Psychology and Aging, 9(2), 195–205. https://doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.9.2.195
Schmutte, P. S., & Ryff, C. D. (1997). Personality and well-being: Reexamining methods and meanings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(3), 549–559. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.73.3.549
Nicole is a behavioral scientist and consultant based in Perth, Western Australia. Her research interests lie at the intersection between wellbeing, industrial psychology, and spirituality, and her work appears in several top business journals, including the Journal of Organizational Behavior. With a focus on harmonious work-life integration, Nicole’s work blends scientific knowledge with systems thinking to elevate individuals and transform work cultures.
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What our readers think
Elsie Eugenio
on February 17, 2025 at 21:36
Hi! Thank you for sharing this article. This tool would really help me finished my ongoing Thesis. With this, Can I ask permission to use this tool in my study? Thank you and have a nice day!
I have gone through your whole article. I am planning to use psychological wellbeing scale 42 items in my research. When I read the instructions i understood that scoring pattern in this way- First I have to reverse the score for proposed questions. then I have to sums up all the score to get a total score. If I want to get separate subscale items score I can sums up subscale questions score. This is what I got from reading the information. Am I correct? If I am wrong would you please explain how is the scoring pattern?.
Thank you for providing this helpful article! In terms of scoring, can the subscores be added together to get a composite score reflecting overall psychological well-being? If so, do you have an examples of previous studies that used the scale in this manner? Thank you for any help you can provide!
What our readers think
Hi! Thank you for sharing this article. This tool would really help me finished my ongoing Thesis. With this, Can I ask permission to use this tool in my study? Thank you and have a nice day!
Hi Elsie,
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
I have gone through your whole article. I am planning to use psychological wellbeing scale 42 items in my research. When I read the instructions i understood that scoring pattern in this way- First I have to reverse the score for proposed questions. then I have to sums up all the score to get a total score. If I want to get separate subscale items score I can sums up subscale questions score. This is what I got from reading the information. Am I correct? If I am wrong would you please explain how is the scoring pattern?.
Hi Lijo,
Yes that is right! You can find more information with the scale here.
I hope this helps!
Warm regards,
Julia | Community Manager
Thank you for providing this helpful article! In terms of scoring, can the subscores be added together to get a composite score reflecting overall psychological well-being? If so, do you have an examples of previous studies that used the scale in this manner? Thank you for any help you can provide!