AimsThe study aimed to determine the dimensionality of the Spanish version of the PQ‐16 among Colombian adolescent school students.MethodsA validation study was designed with the participation of 334 Colombian adolescent students aged between 13 and 17 (M = 15.2, SD = 1.1); 171 (52.1%) were girls, and 163 (47.9%) were boys, 229 (68.6%) were ninth‐grade students and 105 (31.4%) were tenth‐grade students. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed, internal consistency was calculated with the Kuder‐Richardson and McDonald's omega tests, and correlation with suicide ideation was computed with the Kendall correlation (r).ResultsThe confirmatory factor analysis showed that the PQ‐16 adequately fit a unidimensional structure: RMSEA = 0.05 (90%CI 0.04‐0.06), CFI = 0.91, TLI = 0.90, SRMR = 0.05, chi‐squared = 193.18 (df = 102, p < 0.001) and normalized chi‐squared = 1.89. This factor presented high internal consistency: Kuder‐Richardson test and McDonald's omega of 0.83. The correlation between the PQ‐16 and suicide ideation was r = 0.45 (p < 0.001).ConclusionThe PQ‐16 is a one‐dimensional tool with high internal consistency and correlation with suicide ideation among schooled adolescents. Further research should explore the PQ‐16 performance against a structured clinical interview.