18-item short form assessing six dimensions of psychological well-being: autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations, purpose in life, and self-acceptance. ≈ 5 min to complete. Free with attribution.
PWB-18 (Psychological Well-Being Scale) is a validated clinical instrument used to assess 18-item short form assessing six dimensions of psychological well-being: autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations, purpose in life, and self-acceptance.. It is most often used for assessing eudaimonic well-being in research and clinical settings.. The instrument contains 18 items. Typical administration time is ≈ 5 min.
Source / attribution: Free to use with citation
Assessing eudaimonic well-being in research and clinical settings. PWB-18 is part of standard practice in this setting because it provides a structured, replicable assessment that can be tracked over time and compared across patients or visits.
Like all screening or assessment instruments, PWB-18 is a structured aid — not a diagnostic test in isolation. Results should be interpreted alongside history, examination, and clinical context. Where a score crosses an actionable threshold, the next step is typically a more detailed clinical evaluation rather than a definitive diagnosis.
Answer all 18 items below to see your PWB-18 score and interpretation.
Each item is scored on a 6-point scale (1–6). Your score updates live as you answer.
All scoring runs in your browser. No data is sent anywhere — close the tab and the answers are gone.
Six 3-item subscales. Items scored 1-6 or 1-7. Several items are reverse-coded. Total range 18-108 (6-point) or 18-126 (7-point). Higher scores indicate greater well-being.
Scoring notes: Six 3-item subscales. Items scored 1-6 or 1-7. Several items are reverse-coded. Total range 18-108 (6-point) or 18-126 (7-point). Higher scores indicate greater well-being.
The cutoffs below are drawn from the published validation literature. Always interpret in clinical context.
| Score range | Band | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| 18–54 | Low well-being | Consider intervention |
| 55–80 | Moderate well-being | Monitor |
| 81–108 | High well-being | Maintain |
This is an illustrative walkthrough, not a real patient. Follow the same four steps with your own answers — or use the live calculator at the top of this page.
Read each question and choose the response that best fits. Each response has a number next to it — that number is the item's score. The example below uses illustrative answers.
| # | Item | Example response | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Most people see me as loving and affectionate | Slightly agree | 4 |
| 2 | I am not afraid to voice my opinions, even when they are in opposition to the opinions of most people | Slightly agree | 4 |
| 3 | In general, I feel I am in charge of the situation in which I live | Slightly agree | 4 |
| 4 | I am not interested in activities that will expand my horizons | Slightly disagree | 4 |
| 5 | I live life one day at a time and don't really think about the future | Slightly disagree | 4 |
| 6 | When I look at the story of my life, I am pleased with how things have turned out | Slightly agree | 4 |
| 7 | Maintaining close relationships has been difficult and frustrating for me | Slightly disagree | 4 |
| 8 | I tend to be influenced by people with strong opinions | Slightly disagree | 4 |
| 9 | The demands of everyday life often get me down | Slightly disagree | 4 |
| 10 | I think it is important to have new experiences that challenge how you think about yourself and the world | Slightly agree | 4 |
| 11 | I have a sense of direction and purpose in life | Slightly disagree | 3 |
| 12 | I like most parts of my personality | Slightly agree | 4 |
| 13 | I often feel lonely because I have few close friends with whom to share my concerns | Slightly disagree | 4 |
| 14 | My decisions are not usually influenced by what everyone else is doing | Slightly disagree | 3 |
| 15 | I am quite good at managing the many responsibilities of my daily life | Slightly disagree | 3 |
| 16 | I gave up trying to make big improvements or changes in my life a long time ago | Slightly disagree | 4 |
| 17 | I sometimes feel as if I've done all there is to do in life | Slightly disagree | 4 |
| 18 | I have not experienced many warm and trusting relationships with others | Slightly agree | 3 |
Add up all the item scores you noted in Step 1.
4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + … (items 9–18 sum to 36) = 68
Find the row in the interpretation table whose range contains your total:
Total = 68 falls between 55 and 80 → Moderate well-being
Moderate well-being. Monitor
A score is one input alongside history and examination. PWB-18 supports clinical judgment — it does not replace it.
Psychometric figures are drawn from the validation literature and may vary across clinical populations and translations.
If PWB-18 doesn't fit your context, related instruments in wellbeing include:
| Scale | Measures | Items | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| WHO-5 | 5-item measure of subjective psychological well-being. | 5 | ≈ 1 min |
| FS | 8-item measure of self-perceived success in relationships, self-esteem, purpose, and optimism. | 8 | ≈ 2 min |
| SPANE | 12-item measure of positive and negative emotional experiences. | 12 | ≈ 2 min |
| MLQ | 10-item measure assessing presence of meaning and search for meaning in life. | 10 | ≈ 3 min |
| GQ-6 | 6-item measure of individual differences in the disposition to experience gratitude. | 6 | ≈ 2 min |
| SHS | 4-item global measure of subjective happiness using absolute ratings and social comparisons. | 4 | ≈ 1 min |
| AHS | 12-item measure of dispositional hope with agency and pathways subscales. | 12 | ≈ 3 min |
| PGIS | 9-item measure of active, intentional engagement in personal growth and self-change. | 9 | ≈ 2 min |
PWB-18 (Psychological Well-Being Scale) is a validated instrument that assesses six dimensions of psychological well-being: autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations, purpose in life, and self-acceptance. Its primary clinical use is Assessing eudaimonic well-being in research and clinical settings. It takes about 5 min to complete, and the 18 items are summed to produce a total score.
PWB-18 typically takes about 5 min to administer. The exact duration varies a little depending on whether it is self-administered or completed with a clinician. Its brief format is part of what makes it practical for routine clinical use and for repeat administration when tracking change over time.
PWB-18 contains 18 items. Item scores are summed to produce the total. Scores run from 18 to 108, grouped into 3 interpretation bands from ‘Low well-being’ up to ‘High well-being’.
On the PWB-18 (total score 18–108), scores of 81–108 fall in the ‘High well-being’ band — interpreted as: Maintain. The full ladder is: 18–54 — Low well-being: Consider intervention.; 55–80 — Moderate well-being: Monitor.; 81–108 — High well-being: Maintain. A higher score reflects a more severe presentation, and crossing a cutoff is a prompt to step up assessment or care — but these bands are screening thresholds, not diagnoses.
Scores of 18–54 fall in the ‘Low well-being’ band: Consider intervention. A low score is reassuring but does not by itself rule out the underlying condition — if symptoms or clinical suspicion persist, reassess over time or use a complementary evaluation rather than relying on the number alone.
PWB-18 has reported Cronbach's α of 0.88 in validation samples and test–retest reliability of 0.78. Six-factor structure validated across cultures; correlates with health and life satisfaction. In practical terms, a Cronbach’s α around 0.88 indicates good internal consistency (the items hang together well), and a test–retest reliability of 0.78 means scores are well when the scale is repeated without real clinical change.
PWB-18 is free to use with attribution — clinical, educational, and research use is permitted provided the original source is credited. If you publish results or reproduce the scale, include the citation to the source paper.
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. This is the original publication for the PWB-18 — the reference to cite when reporting results.
No. PWB-18 is a structured assessment aid, not a diagnostic test. Its proper role is Assessing eudaimonic well-being in research and clinical settings — it standardizes assessment and flags who needs closer evaluation, but the result must be weighed alongside history, examination, and clinical context. When a score conflicts with your clinical impression, clinical judgment takes precedence; treatment decisions should never rest on a screening score alone.
PWB-18 is supported by the following peer-reviewed sources: