Exploring camouflaging by the Chinese version Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire in Taiwanese autistic and non-autistic adolescents: An initial development.
The Chinese CAT-Q is ready for Taiwanese teens and shows masking links to stress.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team translated the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire into Chinese. They gave it to autistic and non-autistic teens in Taiwan.
They checked if the new form kept the same two-part structure as the English original. They also asked if autistic teens scored higher and if higher scores linked to more stress.
What they found
The Chinese form held together well. Autistic teens scored higher on both parts, especially on the ‘assimilation’ part that hides social slips.
Higher camouflage scores went hand-in-hand with higher self-reported stress.
How this fits with other research
Bureau et al. (2024) did the same job in French and got similar results. Both teams show the CAT-Q travels well across languages.
Arnold et al. (2026) warn the CAT-Q may be tangled with social anxiety and works best in adult-diagnosed females without ID. Liu et al. (2024) did not test kids with ID, so the warning still stands.
Gandhi et al. (2022) found adult-diagnosed females mask most. The new teen data line up: masking starts early and keeps going.
Why it matters
You now have a free, validated Chinese tool for Taiwanese teens. Use it during intake to spot clients who hide traits and may burn out. Pair the score with stress questions and plan breaks from social masking as part of self-advocacy training.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Camouflaging is a coping strategy used by some autistic and other neurodivergent people to fit in neurotypical social contexts. The self-reported Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire has been validated for use in research with adults in some Western societies, but not in non-Western cultural-ethnic groups. We translated Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire into traditional Chinese and examined the use of this measure in Taiwanese adolescents via both self-report and caregiver-report in 100 autistic and 105 non-autistic adolescents. Both self-reported and caregiver-reported Chinese version Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire were composed of two factors (i.e. a "compensation-masking" subscale and an "assimilation" subscale). Both adolescent self-reported and caregiver-reported Chinese version Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire total score and subscales were reliable in measurement, and they highly correlated with each other. Taiwanese autistic adolescents were more likely to camouflage than non-autistic adolescents, especially on assimilation. Female autistic adolescents showed higher assimilation than male autistic adolescents. Higher camouflaging, especially assimilation, was associated with higher stress in autistic and non-autistic adolescents alike. Both self-reported and caregiver-reported Chinese version Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire were reliable and offered meaningful information to help us understand the social coping experiences of autistic and non-autistic adolescents.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2024 · doi:10.1177/13623613231181732