The Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire, usually called the CAT-Q, is a 25-item self-report measure of social camouflaging. Camouflaging means using strategies to hide, compensate for, or manage the visibility of autistic traits during social interaction.
The CAT-Q can be useful for thinking about masking, compensation, social exhaustion, and why somebody may appear to be coping while privately working very hard. It is not an autism diagnosis, and it cannot tell you whether camouflaging is helpful, harmful, chosen, pressured, conscious, or automatic in any particular situation.
Reference: Hull L, Mandy W, Lai MC, Baron-Cohen S, Allison C, Smith P, Petrides KV. Development and Validation of the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 2019;49:819-833.
How to Answer
Read each statement and choose the answer that best fits your experiences during social interactions. There are no right answers.
Your answers stay in your browser and are not stored by Autistic Empire.
CAT-Q Camouflaging Assessment
Your Result
Total CAT-Q Score
How to Read This
The CAT-Q total score ranges from 25 to 175. Higher scores reflect more camouflaging. The original paper does not provide a diagnostic cutoff, so this result is best read as a profile of strategies and strain rather than a pass/fail test.
Compensation reflects strategies used to work around social difficulties. Masking reflects strategies used to hide autistic characteristics or present a less autistic persona. Assimilation reflects trying to fit into social situations, often while feeling unlike yourself or wanting to avoid interaction.
Source and Licence
Hull L, Mandy W, Lai MC, Baron-Cohen S, Allison C, Smith P, Petrides KV. Development and Validation of the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 2019;49:819-833.
The CAT-Q and article are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Items are reproduced from Online Appendix 1.