Background <p>The prevalence, recurrence rate, and mortality rate of adolescent depression are at a high level, necessitating a rigorous assessment tool to screen the actual level of self-management in adolescents with depressive disorders. In order to provide personalized and targeted self-management support for them, this study aims to develop and validate a self-management scale for adolescents with depressive disorders.</p> Materials and methods <p>We developed and validated a Self-Management Scale for Adolescents with Depressive Disorders (SSADD). The study involved two phases: scale development and validation. In the scale development phase, a pool of scale items was initially formed through a literature review. Two rounds of expert consultations and pre-pilot investigation were conducted to refine the scale and evaluate its validity. The scale was tested on 356 participants using item analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), test-retest reliability and internal consistency evaluation.</p> Results <p>The scale consists of three factors and twenty-four items. Following two rounds of expert correspondence, the I-CVI of the items ranged from 0.83 to 1.00, While the S-CVI/Ave was 0.94, indicating a high level of content validity. The Cronbach’s alpha value of Medical Management is 0.807; the Emotional Management is 0.786; the Role Management is 0.969, and the total scale is 0.912, showed good internal consistency. The retest reliability coefficient was 0.802, which was found to be statistically significant (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.01), indicating that the scale demonstrates good stability over time.</p> Conclusion <p>The SSADD is valid and reliable. It can serve as a valuable tool for self-management assessment in adolescent patients with depressive disorders, enabling timely identification of issues in self-management during the treatment process.</p>