Passive-Aggressive Test: See How Often You Express Anger Indirectly, and Where
This passive-aggressive test asks how often you express irritation sideways: the sarcastic yes, the forgotten favor, the silent treatment. It scores three patterns separately, with an instant result and an optional PDF report.
Reviewed by Michael Callans, MSW 
Passive-Aggressive Test is a free, confidential 22-question self-assessment, original educational screener, not a diagnostic instrument. It takes about 5 minutes, runs entirely in your browser, and gives you a plain-language score across 3 interpretation bands plus an optional in-depth report. It is an educational screening, not a diagnosis.
Three ways anger leaks out when it cannot come out straight
Passive aggression is not one thing. Some people resist quietly (agreeing, then not doing), some let hostility show through sarcasm and backhanded compliments, and some mostly carry a sense of being unappreciated and put upon. This test scores all three so you can see which pattern is yours, rather than handing you a single label. The page also explains why the habit develops and shows how to practice saying things directly.
Indirect resistance
Saying yes when you mean no, stalling on requests you resent, doing a task badly on purpose, or conveniently forgetting. The behavior looks like cooperation and functions as refusal.
Covert hostility
Sarcasm instead of a straight answer, backhanded compliments, the silent treatment, sulking, and the small digs that let someone know you are angry without ever having to say so.
Resentment and victim feelings
The inner side of the pattern: feeling misunderstood, unappreciated, and controlled, keeping score, and experiencing ordinary requests as demands. This is often where the habit starts.
| Feature | Typical free quiz | Psychology.com |
|---|---|---|
| Scores three patterns, not one label | Usually one score | Yes, a breakdown across three areas |
| Explains where the habit comes from | Rarely | Yes, including the DSM history |
| Original items, no copied proprietary content | Often unclear | Yes, 22 original statements |
| Shows how to practice direct communication | No | Yes, with linked worksheets |
| Clinician-reviewed interpretation | Rarely | Yes, clinician reviewed |
| Optional in-depth personalized report | No | Yes, written to your exact scores |
| Answers stay on your device | Often collected | Scored in your browser; only summary scores if you request a PDF or report |
How scoring works
Answers are scored 0–88 in total. Your result falls into one of 3 bands:
| Score | Band | What it suggests |
|---|---|---|
| 0–29 | Few passive-aggressive patterns | Your answers suggest you mostly handle irritation and requests directly. The sideways habits this test describes show up rarely, if at all. |
| 30–58 | Some passive-aggressive patterns | Your answers suggest a real habit of expressing irritation sideways, at least in some relationships or situations. It is not the whole story of how you communicate, but it is there. |
| 59–88 | Many passive-aggressive patterns | Your answers suggest that indirect anger is a central part of how you deal with people right now, across resistance, covert hostility, and resentment. That is worth taking seriously, and it is very workable. |
How the passive-aggressive score works
The test has 22 statements about how you handle irritation, requests, and disagreement. Each is rated from 0 (never) to 4 (almost always), so the total runs from 0 to 88. The statements fall into three groups that we wrote for this page: 8 about indirect resistance (maximum 32 points), 7 about covert hostility (maximum 28), and 7 about resentment and victim feelings (maximum 28). The breakdown on your result shows each group separately, because two people with the same total can have very different patterns: one quietly stalls and never says a sharp word, the other is all sarcasm and keeps every promise.
Your total falls into one of three bands: few patterns (0 to 29), some patterns (30 to 58), or many patterns (59 to 88). These are educational thirds, not clinical cutoffs, and there is no validated instrument behind them. A score in the top band describes a habit you may want to work on; it does not describe a disorder, and nothing on this page can tell you whether you have one.
What passive aggression is, and the diagnosis that disappeared
Passive aggression is anger expressed indirectly: through delay, forgetting, sarcasm, withdrawal, or a cooperative surface that hides refusal. The term dates from the Second World War, when US Army psychiatrists described soldiers who complied with orders in ways that quietly sabotaged them. Passive-aggressive personality disorder appeared in the first three editions of the DSM. In 1994, DSM-IV moved it to an appendix of conditions needing further study, renamed it negativistic personality disorder, and widened it to include a general attitude of sullen resentment and complaint. DSM-5 dropped it entirely. Reviewers such as Wetzler and Morey argued the category had been abandoned for political and procedural reasons rather than because the pattern was not real; later work by Hopwood and colleagues found the trait is coherent, reasonably stable, and tied to interpersonal problems.
So the behavior is real and well described, even though there is no current diagnosis for it. That is why this page talks about patterns and habits, never a condition. Most people recognize a few of these behaviors in themselves, and situational passive aggression, the kind that shows up with one boss or one parent, is different from a pervasive style that follows you into every relationship.
The habit usually develops where direct anger was not safe. Children who were punished, mocked, or abandoned for saying no learn to say yes and then not do it. Adults in workplaces where disagreement is career-limiting learn the same thing. The behavior protects you from the immediate cost of open conflict, and it works, which is exactly why it sticks. The problem is the longer-term bill: the other person senses the hostility but cannot name it, trust erodes, and you are left feeling misunderstood, because in a sense you have arranged not to be understood.
Related patterns: people-pleasing, anger, and conflict style
Passive aggression sits next to several other patterns, and it helps to know which one you are looking at. People-pleasing shares the automatic yes but usually lacks the hidden no: a people-pleaser overextends and then burns out, while a passive-aggressive pattern overextends and then quietly retaliates. Our People-Pleasing Test looks at that first pattern. Open anger problems are the mirror image: the irritation is the same, the expression is direct and sometimes frightening; the Anger Issues Test covers that, and the Aggression Test (which looks at physical, verbal, anger, and hostility components) shows where indirect hostility sits alongside the more visible kinds.
Your Conflict Style Quiz and Communication Style Quiz results add useful context, because passive aggression is in effect a conflict style: avoiding on the surface, competing underneath. If you are taking this test because a partner has told you that you are hard to argue with, our Am I the Problem? Relationship Self-Check self-check approaches the same question from the relationship side.
How to practice saying it straight
The way out of passive aggression is not to become aggressive; it is to become direct, which most people with this pattern have never actually been taught. Start by noticing the moment of the automatic yes. When someone asks for something, buy time: say you will check and reply within the hour. Then decide what you actually want to say, and say it in one plain sentence with the reason attached. A structure like the I-statement (I feel, when, because, and what I would like) takes the heat out of the words while keeping the content honest. Our I-Statements Worksheet and Assertive Communication Worksheet worksheets walk you through it.
Expect it to feel rude at first. People who have spent years expressing disagreement sideways often experience a direct no as an act of aggression, when to the listener it is simply clear. Watch what happens afterwards: most of the time the relationship gets easier, not harder, because the other person finally knows where they stand. If the pattern runs deep, or if it keeps showing up in relationships you care about, a therapist who works with communication and personality patterns can help you trace where the fear of open anger came from and build the skill at a pace that feels safe.
For related questions, Sarcasm Test: How Sarcastic Are You? separates reported use from social cost, while Apology Language Quiz explores approaches to repair after harm.
Methodology & sources
The 22 statements on this page are original and were written for Psychology.com. They describe the behaviors and attitudes that clinical descriptions of passive-aggressive and negativistic personality have consistently included: covert resistance to requests, procrastination and deliberate inefficiency, sarcasm and sullenness, the silent treatment, and a persistent sense of being misunderstood, unappreciated, and unfairly demanded of (see Wetzler and Morey, 1999, and Hopwood and colleagues, 2009). The three-way breakdown into indirect resistance, covert hostility, and resentment and victim feelings is our own grouping for educational purposes, not a validated factor structure, and the items are not drawn from any copyrighted inventory.
Each statement is rated on a five-point frequency scale from 0 to 4 and the engine sums the total (0 to 88) and the three group scores. The bands are educational thirds chosen for readability; they are not clinical cutoffs, and no diagnosis of any kind corresponds to a score on this page. Passive-aggressive personality disorder is not a current diagnosis in DSM-5-TR, and this screener is designed to help you recognize a habit of indirect anger and decide whether to work on it, alone or with a professional.
References
- Wetzler S, Morey LC. Passive-aggressive personality disorder: the demise of a syndrome. Psychiatry. 1999;62(1):49-59. doi.org/10.1080/00332747.1999.11024851
- Hopwood CJ, Morey LC, Markowitz JC, et al. The construct validity of passive-aggressive personality disorder. Psychiatry. 2009;72(3):256-267. doi.org/10.1521/psyc.2009.72.3.256
- American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association; 1994. Appendix B: Criteria sets and axes provided for further study (passive-aggressive personality disorder, negativistic personality disorder).
- American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-5-TR). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association; 2022.
Cite this source
Psychology.com. (2026, October 5). Passive-Aggressive Test. Psychology.com. https://psychology.com/tests/passive-aggressive
Passive-Aggressive Test FAQ
What does passive-aggressive actually mean?
It means expressing anger or disagreement indirectly instead of saying it out loud: agreeing and then not following through, procrastinating on things you resent, using sarcasm or backhanded compliments, going silent, or sulking. The surface looks cooperative; the function is resistance or payback. Most people do some of this sometimes. The test looks at how much of a habit it has become.
Is passive-aggressive personality disorder a real diagnosis?
Not currently. It appeared in the first three editions of the DSM, was moved to an appendix and renamed negativistic personality disorder in DSM-IV in 1994, and was removed from DSM-5 entirely. The behavior pattern is well documented in research; there is simply no official diagnosis for it today, and this test cannot and does not diagnose anything.
Why do I do this instead of just saying what I want?
Usually because somewhere along the way, direct anger or a straight no was not safe. If disagreement was punished, mocked, or met with withdrawal at home or at work, going along on the surface while resisting underneath became the way to protect yourself. It is a learned strategy, and learned strategies can be unlearned. Our People-Pleasing Test looks at a closely related habit.
What is the difference between passive aggression and being conflict-avoidant?
Conflict avoidance means stepping away from the argument. Passive aggression means stepping away from the argument and then getting even in a way that cannot be pinned on you. The second contains hidden hostility; the first often does not. Our Conflict Style Quiz can show you which way you tend to go.
Is the test really confidential?
Yes. It runs entirely in your browser. Your individual answers are scored in your browser and are never sent to us or linked to you. They stay in this tab so you can return to your result, and closing or clearing the tab clears them. If you ask us to email the PDF, we receive your summary scores with your email address, never your individual answers. No account is needed.
Can I take this about someone else?
The statements are written in the first person, so it is built for answering about yourself. If you are worried about a partner's or colleague's pattern, you can read the three areas it describes and the section on direct communication, but please do not score another person with it; you cannot see their inner experience, and the resentment items in particular depend on that.
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