Background: Sleep reduction, resulting from insufficient or poor sleep, is a common phenomenon in adolescents. Due to its severe negative psychological and behavioral daytime consequences, it is important to have a short reliable and valid measure to assess symptoms of sleep reduction. Objective: This study aims to validate the Sleep Reduction Screening Questionnaire (SRSQ) that can be used to screen for symptoms of sleep reduction in adolescents. Methods: Various samples from the general and clinical populations were included in the study. The SRSQ is a nine-item questionnaire that is based on the longer, four dimensional Chronic Sleep Reduction Questionnaire (Meijer in "J Sleep Res" 17:395-405, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2869.2008.00677.x, 2008). Items were selected on the basis of principal components analysis, item-total correlations, and substantive consideration. The SRSQ was validated by calculating correlations with self-reported and objective sleep and self-reported daytime functioning. Cut-off scores were determined so that the SRSQ can be used as a screening instrument. Results: Internal consistencies of the SRSQ were good (Cronbach's alpha = 0.79 in the general population). Correlations with self-reported sleep, daytime functioning and objective sleep variables were satisfactory and in the expected directions. The SRSQ discriminates well between clinical and non-clinical cases. When accounting for prevalence of sleep reduction symptoms in the general population, the area under the curve was 0.91, sensitivity was 0.80 and specificity was 0.87. Conclusions: The SRSQ appears to be a short reliable and valid questionnaire. Due to the limited number of items and the availability of cut-off scores, it is a practical tool for clinical and research purposes.