Self-esteem reflects a person's overall subjective emotional evaluation of his or her own worth. The scale measures state self-esteem by asking the respondents to reflect on their current feelings.

The scale is a 10-item self-report measure of global self-esteem. It consists of 10 statements related to overall feelings of self-worth or self-acceptance. The items are answered on a four-point scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. The SES has also been administered as an interview.