Background: It is still unknown whether the “Somatic symptom disorders (SSD) and related disorders” module of Structured clinical interview for DSM-5, research version (SCID-5-RV) is valid in China. This study aimed to assess the SCID-5-RV for SSD in general hospital outpatient clinics in China.Methods: This multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted in the outpatient clinics of nine tertiary hospitals in Beijing, Jincheng, Shanghai, Wuhan, and Chengdu, between May 2016 and March 2017. The “SSD and related disorders” module of SCID-5-RV was translated, reversed-translated, revised, and used by trained clinical researchers to make a diagnosis of SSD. Several standardized questionnaires measuring somatic symptom severity, emotional distress, and quality of life were used to compare with SCID-5-RV.Results: A total of 699 patients were recruited, and 236 were diagnosed with SSD. Of these, 46 had mild SSD, 78 had moderate SSD, 100 had severe SSD, and 12 were excluded due to incomplete data. SCID-5-RV for SSD correlated high with somatic symptom severity, emotional distress, and quality of life (all P<0.001), and could distinguish non-severe forms of SSD from severe ones. Conclusions: This study suggests that SCID-5-RV for SSD can distinguish SSD from non-SSD patients, and severe patients from non-severe patients. It has good discriminative validity with other tools and reflects the DSM-5 diagnostic approach that emphasizes excessive emotional, thinking, and behavioral responses related to symptoms.