What your Rosenberg Self-Esteem score really means

You took the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and got a number between 10 and 40. This is the most widely used measure of global self-esteem—how you feel about yourself as a person overall. Here's what your score actually tells you.

The quick answer

The average adult scores around 22-23. Most people fall in the 17-28 range.

What the RSE measures

The 10 questions assess your overall sense of self-worth—not how you feel about specific abilities or areas of your life, but how you feel about yourself as a person.

The questions cover:
- Whether you feel satisfied with yourself
- Whether you think you have good qualities
- Whether you feel like a person of worth
- Whether you can do things as well as others
- Whether you take a positive attitude toward yourself

And the flip side:
- Whether you feel like a failure
- Whether you feel useless at times
- Whether you wish you had more self-respect
- Whether you think you're "no good"
- Whether you lack things to be proud of

Your score reflects the balance between positive and negative self-evaluations.

Understanding "global" self-esteem

The RSE measures global self-esteem—your overall sense of self-worth as a person.

This is different from:
- Academic self-esteem (how smart you think you are)
- Social self-esteem (how likeable you think you are)
- Physical self-esteem (how you feel about your appearance)
- Professional self-esteem (how competent you feel at work)

You can have low global self-esteem but high confidence in specific areas. A person might think "I'm good at my job" while also thinking "I'm fundamentally not a worthwhile person." The RSE captures that deeper, more general self-evaluation.

What to do based on your score

Score 30-40 (high self-esteem)

You have a generally positive view of yourself. This is associated with:
- Greater life satisfaction
- Better resilience to setbacks
- Healthier relationships
- Lower risk of depression and anxiety

High self-esteem isn't the same as narcissism or arrogance. Healthy high self-esteem means you value yourself while also being able to acknowledge your flaws and accept criticism.

Note: Very high scores (38-40) are uncommon. If you scored at the ceiling, consider whether you answered how you genuinely feel versus how you think you "should" feel.

Score 26-29 (normal self-esteem)

You're in the typical range—you have a reasonably balanced view of yourself with room for both self-acceptance and self-improvement. Most people fall somewhere in this zone.

This doesn't mean your self-esteem is "fine" and can't be worked on. Even within the normal range, building self-worth can improve well-being.

Score 10-25 (low self-esteem)

Your score suggests you're struggling with how you see yourself. Low self-esteem at this level is associated with:
- Higher risk of depression and anxiety
- Difficulty in relationships
- Reduced motivation and persistence
- Physical health impacts

Consider:
- Talking to a therapist, especially one who uses cognitive-behavioral approaches
- Identifying the sources of your negative self-view
- Being aware that low self-esteem often co-occurs with depression—if you're also feeling hopeless, unmotivated, or experiencing other depression symptoms, addressing that may help self-esteem too

Score below 15 (very low self-esteem)

Scores in this range are strongly associated with clinical depression and significant psychological distress. If you scored here, professional support is recommended. You don't have to feel this way—therapy and sometimes medication can help both depression and self-esteem.

What self-esteem isn't

It's not the same as confidence. Confidence is about specific abilities ("I'm confident I can give this presentation"). Self-esteem is about your worth as a person ("I matter regardless of how the presentation goes").

It's not about accomplishments. High achievers can have low self-esteem. Self-esteem comes from how you evaluate yourself, not from what you've done.

It's not fixed. Self-esteem changes throughout life. It tends to be lower in adolescence, gradually increases through adulthood, and can shift based on life circumstances, relationships, and mental health.

It's not about never having self-doubt. Even people with healthy self-esteem have moments of insecurity. The difference is that those moments don't define their overall self-view.

The connection to depression

Low self-esteem and depression are closely related, but they're not the same thing.

- Low self-esteem can be a risk factor for developing depression
- Depression almost always involves negative self-evaluation
- Treating depression often improves self-esteem
- But some people have low self-esteem without clinical depression

If your RSE score is low, it's worth considering whether you might also have depression. The PHQ-9 can help screen for that.

Can self-esteem change?

Yes. Self-esteem isn't a permanent trait—it can be improved through:

Therapy: Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is particularly effective. It helps identify and challenge the negative beliefs you hold about yourself.

Accomplishments and mastery: Achieving things you care about can gradually shift self-perception—though this works best when combined with changing how you interpret your experiences.

Relationships: Supportive relationships can improve self-esteem; critical or abusive relationships can damage it.

Treating underlying conditions: If depression or anxiety is contributing to low self-esteem, addressing those conditions often helps self-worth improve too.

Common questions

Is low self-esteem a mental illness?

No, low self-esteem isn't a diagnosis. But it's a risk factor for mental health problems and commonly co-occurs with depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. It's clinically significant even when it doesn't meet criteria for a disorder.

Why do some questions ask about negative things?

The RSE includes both positive items ("I feel I have good qualities") and negative items ("I feel useless at times"). Including both helps get a more accurate picture of how you actually feel, rather than just measuring your willingness to endorse positive statements.

My score seems lower than how I actually feel. Why?

You might be more self-critical when answering questions directly than you are in daily life. Or you might have domain-specific confidence that doesn't translate to global self-worth. The score reflects your answers in the moment—it's data, not destiny.

My score is high but I still feel insecure sometimes. Is that a problem?

No. Everyone experiences insecurity at times. High self-esteem means your overall self-evaluation is positive, not that you never doubt yourself. Situational insecurity is normal.

Can self-esteem be too high?

Genuine high self-esteem is healthy. But some researchers distinguish between secure high self-esteem (stable, not dependent on external validation) and fragile high self-esteem (defensive, easily threatened). Very high scores might occasionally reflect defensiveness rather than genuine self-acceptance.

Tracking over time

Unlike symptom measures (PHQ-9, GAD-7), self-esteem doesn't change week to week. The RSE is more useful for:
- Establishing a baseline
- Tracking change over months of therapy
- Evaluating whether life changes have affected self-perception

Taking it monthly during therapy is reasonable. Weekly is probably too often to see meaningful change.

The bottom line

Your RSE score reflects how you feel about yourself as a person—your global self-worth. Scores of 26-40 are in the normal-to-high range. Scores of 25 and below indicate low self-esteem that's associated with psychological vulnerability and may benefit from attention. Self-esteem isn't fixed—it can improve through therapy, life experiences, and addressing conditions like depression that contribute to negative self-evaluation.

Related assessments

If you're concerned about your mental health alongside self-esteem:

- PHQ-9 — Depression screening (commonly co-occurs with low self-esteem)
- GAD-7 — Anxiety screening
- DASS-21 — Combined depression, anxiety, and stress