Exploring camouflaging by the Chinese version Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire in Taiwanese autistic and non-autistic adolescents: An initial development

• Published in: Autism : the international journal of research and practice 2024-03, Vol.28 (3), p.690-704
• Main Authors: Liu, Chun-Hao, Chen, Yi-Lung, Chen, Pei-Jung, Ni, Hsing-Chang, Lai, Meng-Chuan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Asian People; Assimilation; Autism; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Autistic adolescents; Autistic adults; Autistic Disorder; Caregivers; Chinese languages; Compensation; Coping strategies; Ethnic groups; Exploratory factor analysis; Female; Females; Humans; Male; Masking; Measurement; Measures; Neurodiversity; Quantitative psychology; Questionnaires; Reliability; Self Report; Sex differences; Social environment; Stress; Surveys and Questionnaires; Teenagers
• ISSN: 1362-3613; 1461-7005; 1461-7005
• DOI: 10.1177/13623613231181732

Camouflaging is a strategy adopted by neurodivergent individuals to cope in neurotypical social contexts, likely related to perceived stress. Despite increasing research in autistic adults, studies of camouflaging in adolescents remain sparse. The self-reported Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire has been validated in adults in some Western societies, but not in non-Western populations. We examined the psychometric properties of the self-reported and caregiver-reported Chinese version Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire in Taiwanese adolescents. We enrolled 100 autistic and 105 non-autistic adolescents (aged 12–18 years) and their caregivers. As an initial development, we found a two-factor structure (“compensation-masking” and “assimilation”) via exploratory factor analysis, alongside good internal consistency and test–retest reliability, for both the self-reported and caregiver-reported Chinese version Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire. Self-reported and caregiver-reported Chinese version Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire scores were moderately to highly correlated. Autistic adolescents showed higher total Chinese version Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire and assimilation scores than non-autistic adolescents in both males and females. Female autistic adolescents showed higher assimilation than male autistic adolescents, but there was no significant difference between sex assigned at birth on compensation-masking in either autistic or non-autistic adolescents. Assimilation correlated with higher self-perceived stress for both autistic and non-autistic adolescents. Both self-reported and caregiver-reported Chinese version Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire were reliable and offered meaningful information to understand social coping of Taiwanese autistic and non-autistic adolescents. Lay 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 Aut