Self-Esteem Test: How Do You See Yourself Right Now?
This free self-esteem test is short and private. Statements about how you see yourself give you two scores: self-liking, how warmly you regard yourself, and self-trust, how much you rely on your own abilities. It is a starting point, not a diagnosis, and you can retake it later to see your own change.
Take the self-esteem test
12 statements. Free, no sign-up, and your answers stay private.
Self-esteem is the overall opinion you hold of yourself. It helps to split it in two. One part is how you feel about who you are: whether you can like yourself, mistakes and all. The other is how much you trust yourself to cope, learn and get things done. The two often move together, but not always. Plenty of capable people are very hard on themselves.
Answer for how things are for you lately, not how you think you should feel, and go with your first reaction. There are no right answers and nothing here is compared with anyone else. If you are going through a hard stretch right now, your answers may reflect this week more than how you usually feel.
What it measures
- Self-liking. A higher score means you tend to treat yourself with warmth and accept yourself, flaws included. A lower score means that lately your answers lean towards being critical of yourself.
- Self-trust. A higher score means you tend to trust yourself to cope, learn and get things done. A lower score means that lately your answers lean towards doubting what you can do.
What the results mean
Mostly steady
Both of your scores sit on the higher side. Right now you tend to like who you are and trust yourself to handle things.
Steady self-esteem is not the same as never doubting yourself. Hard weeks still knock everyone, and this is a snapshot of how things feel today.
Capable, but hard on yourself
Your self-trust sits on the higher side and your self-liking on the lower side. You tend to trust what you can do, but find it hard to feel warm towards who you are.
For some people, getting things done becomes the main way to feel acceptable. It helps, but it rarely quiets a harsh inner voice on its own. Treating yourself the way you would treat a friend is a skill, and it can be practised.
Kind to yourself, unsure of your abilities
Your self-liking sits on the higher side and your self-trust on the lower side. You tend to accept who you are, but doubt whether you can cope with or learn new things.
Self-trust usually grows from evidence: small things tried, and done. You do not need to feel confident first. Taking one small step and noticing that you managed it is how the feeling tends to follow.
Running low right now
Both of your scores sit on the lower side. That is a heavy way to feel, and it is not a verdict on who you are.
Low self-esteem and low mood often go together, and each can feed the other. Start small and gently. If your mood has been low most days for a couple of weeks, or this is getting in the way of daily life, talk to a GP or doctor, or a therapist. If you are having thoughts of harming yourself, please talk to someone today.
Questions
Is this self-esteem test a diagnosis?
No. It is a short self-reflection tool that gives a starting point. Low self-esteem is not a diagnosis on its own, but it can be part of depression, so if your mood has been low most days for a couple of weeks, talk to a GP or doctor.
Why two scores instead of one?
Researchers have found it useful to separate how much you like yourself from how much you trust your own abilities (researchers call it self-competence). The two can come apart: you can be very capable and still be harsh with yourself, or kind to yourself and still unsure of your skills. Two scores show which side needs more care.
Is this the Rosenberg self-esteem scale?
No. The Rosenberg scale is a well-known questionnaire from 1965 that gives one overall score. This test uses its own statements and splits self-esteem into two parts, self-liking and self-trust, so you can see which one needs more care.
Can self-esteem change?
Yes. How you see yourself shifts with what is going on in your life, and it can be built up with practice, such as answering your inner critic more fairly and collecting small wins. Retaking this test later lets you compare with your own earlier answers.
Who can see my answers?
Your answers are saved in your own browser. If you have a free account, they also sync to it so you can see them on other devices. They are not shown to anyone else and are not compared with other people's.
Sources
Self-esteem as your overall opinion of yourself follows Rosenberg; splitting it into self-liking and self-competence follows Tafarodi and Swann. The statements here were written for this site.
- Tafarodi, R. W., & Swann, W. B., Jr. (2001). Two-dimensional self-esteem: Theory and measurement. Personality and Individual Differences, 31(5), 653-673.
- Tafarodi, R. W., & Swann, W. B., Jr. (1995). Self-liking and self-competence as dimensions of global self-esteem: Initial validation of a measure. Journal of Personality Assessment, 65(2), 322-342.
- Sowislo, J. F., & Orth, U. (2013). Does low self-esteem predict depression and anxiety? A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 139(1), 213-240.
- Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the Adolescent Self-Image. Princeton University Press.
This isn't therapy, and a result here is a starting point, not a diagnosis.