HOW THIS TEST WORKS
How Am I Controlling? works
How version core-v1 is scored, and what it can and cannot tell you.
How it is scored
Being controlling is not a diagnosis. People differ in how much they want to control what happens around them (Burger and Cooper, 1979). When control extends to watching, limiting, and pressuring a partner, it is called coercive control, a pattern recognized as a form of abuse (Stark, 2007).
This test looks at five areas: deciding for others, needing it your way, keeping tabs, setting rules for others, and anger when you lose control. Each area has eight sentences. Half describe the habit and half describe the opposite, so you cannot get a high score just by agreeing with everything. Each answer gives 0 to 4 points.
Each area score runs from 0 to 100. Your overall score is the average of the five areas. Scores are read as Low (0 to 33), Medium (34 to 66), or High (67 to 100). These levels show how you answered. They do not compare you with other people.
PersonalitySite.com wrote all of these questions and descriptions. They are not copied from any other test.
What it cannot tell you
This test is for learning about yourself. It is not a diagnosis, and it cannot tell you whether a relationship is abusive or safe. Do not use it for legal, custody, or other decisions about anyone.
People tend to underrate their own controlling habits. If people close to you say you are controlling, take that seriously, whatever your score. Parents of young children set some rules for good reasons. This test is about control over other adults.
This version has not yet been tested with a large group of people, so we do not yet know how accurate it is.