Short video use has become increasingly embedded in adolescents’ daily lives, highlighting the need for developmentally sensitive assessment of problematic engagement. The present study developed and validated the Short Video Addiction Scale for Chinese Adolescents (SVAS-CA) across four independent samples (N = 1465). Initial items were generated through qualitative interviews and refined using item analysis and exploratory factor analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis in an independent sample supported a 24-item, five-factor structure comprising withdrawal symptoms, time investment, salient behaviors, academic impairment, and social dysfunction. The SVAS-CA demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency, test–retest reliability, and convergent validity through positive associations with smartphone addiction and phubbing. Further evidence supporting the SVAS-CA as a developmentally sensitive assessment found that short video addiction was positively associated with peer rejection and negatively associated with core self-evaluation and friendship quality. Peer rejection was indirectly associated with short video addiction through lower core self-evaluation. Friendship quality moderated the direct association between peer rejection and short video addiction, with a stronger positive association at higher levels of friendship quality. Overall, the SVAS-CA provides a developmentally sensitive and psychometrically sound tool for assessing problematic short video use among Chinese adolescents.