In brief. The CAT-Q is a 25-item questionnaire developed in 2018 by Hull and colleagues to measure camouflaging, the strategies people use to hide autistic traits. It has three subscales: compensation, masking and assimilation. It does not screen for autism itself; it explains why other screens miss people, and it is increasingly part of adult assessment.
Why camouflaging needed a measure
Traditional autism tools ask about observable traits. People who have spent a lifetime suppressing those traits score low, are told they are not autistic, and continue to struggle. The CAT-Q was developed to quantify the suppression itself, so that a low AQ score alongside a high CAT-Q score reads as "possibly autistic and masking heavily" rather than "not autistic".
The three subscales
- Compensation: strategies to make up for difficulties, such as learning social rules from books or television, copying others' body language, or rehearsing conversations.
- Masking: hiding traits and performing expected ones, such as forcing eye contact, monitoring your face and voice, or suppressing stims.
- Assimilation: forcing yourself to fit in, such as pretending to enjoy social events or feeling you are performing rather than being yourself.
Two questions to start
Take the full self-testWHO adult ADHD screener. Scored on your device. A screen is not a diagnosis.
Scoring
Items are rated on a seven-point scale; totals range from 25 to 175, with subscale scores from 8 to 56 (compensation and assimilation) and 8 to 56 (masking). In the development study, autistic adults scored on average around 100 or more, and autistic women scored higher than autistic men. There is no single cut-off; higher scores indicate more camouflaging and are interpreted alongside other measures.
What a high score tells you
That you work hard to appear non-autistic. That in itself is associated with exhaustion, burnout, anxiety and delayed diagnosis. If you also recognise yourself in descriptions of autism in adults or autism in women, a high CAT-Q is a strong reason to seek assessment from a clinician experienced with masked presentations, and to bring the score with you.
Limits
The CAT-Q is self-report, so it measures conscious camouflaging and may miss strategies that have become automatic. Non-autistic people with social anxiety also score above baseline. It is a piece of the picture, not the picture.
What Inner Help does
Our free autism self-test offers the AQ-10 and RAADS-R; we are adding the CAT-Q. Our finder lists practitioners who state they work with autistic adults and understand masking as adaptation.
Get matched to a therapist.
A short questionnaire, then a practitioner who understands neurodivergence. Per session with your rebate lodged, or a weekly plan.
Frequently asked questions
Does a high CAT-Q mean I am autistic?
No. It means you camouflage heavily, which is common in autism but also occurs in social anxiety. Combined with other measures and lived experience, it strengthens the case for assessment.
Why do autistic women score higher?
Because social expectations of women reward camouflaging more and punish visible difference more. The finding is consistent across studies.
Can I lower my CAT-Q score?
Unmasking, gradually and where safe, reduces camouflaging and its costs. The aim is wellbeing, not a number.
Do Australian clinicians use the CAT-Q?
Increasingly, particularly those who specialise in adult and female presentations. It is not universal; you can ask whether an assessor uses it.
Sources and review
Last updated 2026-09-14.