Background: Cigarette smoking is a health-risk behavior of global proportions. Self-efficacy plays an important role in both smoking acquisition and smoking resistance. Reliability and validity of an instrument is fundamental to research results, particularly in its simplified form on a different population. The purpose of this study was to conduct psychometric testing on the parsimonious Chinese version of the Smoking Self-efficacy Survey (CSSES-20). Methods: The randomized cluster sample was drawn from 61 middle schools in Taipei City, Taiwan. Following a pilot test of the CSSES-20, the CSSES was administered to 571 adolescents. Construct validity was tested by the exploratory factor procedures and the contrasted group approach. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to examine the criterion validity and test-retest reliability for the stability of the scale. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were used to determine the internal consistency of the scale. Results: The exploratory factor analysis yields three components, "opportunity to smoke," "emotional stress," and "influence of friends," accounting for 80.4% of the total variances. The criterion validity was also supported by the study results. The contrasted group approaches affirmed the construct validity of the CSSES-20. Stability of scales was supported by test-retest reliability. Cronbach's alphas for 3 subscales ranged from 0.90 to 0.93. Conclusions: A concise instrument can alleviate response burden for adolescent study participants and increase their recruitment and retention rates. The CSSES-20 demonstrated satisfactory construct validity, criterion validity, stability, and internal consistency reliability. These findings can be used to provide school teachers and nurses with information about the relationship between self-efficacy to resist smoking and adolescent smoking behavior. (Contains 2 tables.)