<P> The Rosenberg self - esteem scale (RSES), developed by sociologist Dr. Morris Rosenberg, is a self - esteem measure widely used in social - science research . It uses a scale of 0 - 30 where a score less than 15 may indicate a problematic low self esteem . </P> <P> The RSES is designed similar to the social - survey questionnaires . It is a ten - item Likert - type scale with items answered on a four - point scale--from strongly agree to strongly disagree . Five of the items have positively worded statements and five have negatively worded ones . The scale measures state self - esteem by asking the respondents to reflect on their current feelings . The original sample for which the scale was developed consisted of 5,024 high - school juniors and seniors from 10 randomly selected schools in New York State . The Rosenberg self - esteem scale is considered a reliable and valid quantitative tool for self - esteem assessment . </P> <P> The RSES has been translated and adapted to various languages, such as Persian, French, Chinese, Italian, German, Portuguese, and Spanish . The scale is extensively used in cross-cultural studies in up to 53 different nations . </P>

What does the rosenberg self esteem scale measure