Scientific background: CAT-Q (Masking)
About this test
The CAT-Q was developed in 2019 by Laura Hull and colleagues at University College London, after clinical observations showed that many autistic people -- particularly women and adults diagnosed later in life -- camouflage their traits so successfully that classic screening instruments like the AQ don't reliably capture them. Camouflaging is associated with increased mental exhaustion, anxiety and depression, and delayed diagnosis. The questionnaire shows good internal consistency for all three subscales in validation studies and reliably distinguishes between autistic and non-autistic samples.
Dimensions
Compensation
Strategies to actively offset difficulties in social situations -- e.g. learning social rules, imitating others, or developing fixed "scripts" for interactions.
Masking
Strategies to hide autistic traits or control the impression you make -- e.g. consciously controlling facial expressions, body language, or eye contact.
Assimilation
Strategies and experiences around trying to fit into social situations -- e.g. "performing" interest, or forcing yourself through interactions.
Sources & license
Hull, L., Mandy, W., Lai, M.-C., Baron-Cohen, S., Allison, C., Smith, P., & Petrides, K. V. (2019). Development and validation of the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49(3), 819–833.
The CAT-Q is published under the CC BY 4.0 license and may be used, modified, and redistributed freely with attribution. Item wording, subscale assignment, and reverse-scored items were verified verbatim against Table 4 of the original article.
https://cat-q.org/