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Methodology note

Methodology of the Social camouflaging test questionnaire

  • Self-observation
  • 24 items
  • 4 axes
  • 5 references

This page describes where the items come from, how the score is computed and the limits of this questionnaire. It is public and asks for no sign-up.

1Where the items come from

The items are written for Brain Quiz from the published literature in the field.

The 24 items in this questionnaire were written for Brain Quiz from the literature on social camouflaging in adults. No published scale is reproduced, in whole or in part: in particular, no item from the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q) is used, and its reuse conditions have not been established. The references below document the field explored, they are not the source of the items.

Sources. 24 items in total.1,2,3,4,5

2How the score is computed

Each answer is worth 0 to 4 points, multiplied by the weight of the question, between 1 and 3. The four axes carry the same total weight, and the overall score is rescaled to 100. It reads as an index of social adaptation effort: the higher it is, the more the answers describe a conscious, prepared and costly adjustment. Four items, one per axis, are reverse-scored, so that reported ease lowers the score. Axes are computed separately, as a percentage of the maximum reachable on their own questions. Weights and band thresholds were set by the editorial team: they come from no population calibration.

2.1The reading axes

Each item feeds a single axis. Each axis is computed as a percentage of the maximum reachable on its own items.

Table 1. The 4 reading axes and the number of items feeding each one.
Reading axisItems
Masking6
Compensation6
Assimilation6
Cost and recovery6

2.2The reading bands

The score brought back to 100 falls into one of these bands. The bounds are set by the editorial team, and shown here.

Table 2. The reading bands of the score out of 100, and the guidance attached to each one.
BandRange out of 100Guidance
Social adaptation at little cost0 to 29nonea
Adaptation effort present30 to 54conversation suggestedb
Marked adaptation effort55 to 74conversation suggestedb
Intense and costly adaptation effort75 to 100reinforced guidancec
  1. No guidance message comes with this band.
  2. The result mentions that a conversation with a professional can help.
  3. The result shows a guidance message towards a health professional.

3Limits of the result

This questionnaire describes a social adaptation effort that you report yourself, at one point in time. It does not identify its cause: shyness, social anxiety, an unwelcoming environment or traits frequently associated with autism can all produce similar answers. It says nothing about the presence or absence of a condition, it can neither establish nor rule out a condition, and it does not replace an assessment by a health professional.

4References

Each entry carries its authors, year, title, journal and identifier.

  1. Hull, L., Petrides, K. V., Allison, C., Smith, P., Baron-Cohen, S., Lai, M.-C., & Mandy, W. (2017). "Putting on My Best Normal": Social Camouflaging in Adults with Autism Spectrum Conditions. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 47(8), 2519-2534. doi:10.1007/s10803-017-3166-5 opens in a new tab ↑
  2. Lai, M.-C., Lombardo, M. V., Ruigrok, A. N. V., Chakrabarti, B., Auyeung, B., Szatmari, P., Happé, F., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2017). Quantifying and exploring camouflaging in men and women with autism. Autism, 21(6), 690-702. doi:10.1177/1362361316671012 opens in a new tab ↑
  3. 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. doi:10.1007/s10803-018-3792-6 opens in a new tab ↑
  4. Hull, L., Levy, L., Lai, M.-C., Petrides, K. V., Baron-Cohen, S., Allison, C., Smith, P., & Mandy, W. (2021). Is social camouflaging associated with anxiety and depression in autistic adults?. Molecular Autism, 12, article 13. doi:10.1186/s13229-021-00421-1 opens in a new tab ↑
  5. Cook, J., Hull, L., Crane, L., & Mandy, W. (2021). Camouflaging in autism: A systematic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 89, 102080. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2021.102080 opens in a new tab ↑
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