Background <p>Assessing cognitive reserve (CR) is crucial for identifying the risk of cognitive impairment, predicting disease progression, and informing targeted interventions. However, the Cognitive Reserve Index Questionnaire (CRIq), a widely used tool for evaluating CR, has practical limitations including its length, complex collection requiring interviewer involvement, and time burdens for participants and interviewers. To address these, a self-administered short-form version (s-CRIq) was updated in 2023, which retains the original scale’s core structure and dimensions while significantly improving convenience and efficiency. This study aimed to develop a Chinese version of the s-CRIq (s-CRIq-C) through rigorous cross-cultural adaptation and evaluate its psychometric properties.</p> Methods <p>Followed Beaton’s guidelines for cross-cultural adaptation to translate the s-CRIq-C. Seven experts evaluated the content validity index and translation validity index. Independent samples <i>t</i>-tests were used to assess gender differences, while one-way ANOVA with post-hoc analyses was employed to examine age group differences. To verify the construct validity of the s-CRIq-C, Pearson correlation analysis was performed to assess the relationship between the total scale score and the three dimension scores. Concurrent validity was tested using the full-length CRIq as the criterion to further confirm its construct validity. Reliability was evaluated through internal consistency and test-retest reliability.</p> Results <p>A total of 315 healthy adult participants were included. The mean total CRI score was 94.28 ± 14.94, indicating a medium level of CRI. The total CRI score showed strong correlations with the three dimensions—CRI-Education (<i>r</i> = 0.818), CRI-WorkingActivity (<i>r</i> = 0.812), and CRI-LeisureTime (<i>r</i> = 0.819)—while moderate to weak correlations were observed among the dimensions themselves. Concurrent validity analysis revealed a high correlation between the s-CRIq-C and the long version of CRIq (<i>r</i> = 0.932, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.001). The s-CRIq-C exhibited good reliability, with a Cronbach’s α coefficient of 0.777, McDonald’s ω coefficient of 0.780, and test-retest reliability of 0.968.</p> Conclusions <p>The s-CRIq-C demonstrated good reliability and validity, supporting its utility as a brief and dependable tool for assessing CR in both clinical and scientific investigations.</p> Trial registration <p>The trial was registered at the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry with the registration number ChiCTR2500104640. Registered on 20 June 2025.</p>