Origin
Masking — also called camouflaging — describes the conscious and unconscious strategies people use to hide or compensate for neurodivergent traits in social settings. Qualitative work by Hull and colleagues (2017), "Putting on My Best Normal", documented these strategies in autistic adults, and the team subsequently developed the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q; Hull et al , 2019) as the first dedicated self-report measure.
Structure
The CAT-Q contains 25 items rated on a seven-point scale, grouped into three subscales: compensation (actively offsetting difficulties, such as copying body language), masking (hiding autistic characteristics), and assimilation (strategies to blend in and avoid standing out). It yields a total camouflaging score plus subscale scores, and was normed in both autistic and non-autistic adults.
Psychometric standing
Hull et al. (2019) reported good internal consistency, acceptable test-retest reliability and a replicable three-factor structure. Higher camouflaging is associated with greater anxiety, depression and self-reported exhaustion, and is more frequently reported by women, which is thought to contribute to later or missed diagnosis (Lai et al
, 2017). The CAT-Q measures self-perceived camouflaging behaviour; it is a research and self-reflection tool, not a diagnostic instrument.