Comprehensive Autistic Trait Inventory
The Comprehensive Autistic Trait Inventory (CATI) is a free questionnaire designed to measure autistic traits in adults. It was developed to reflect today's understanding of autism, recognising that autistic experiences extend well beyond social communication differences to include areas such as sensory sensitivity, self-regulatory behaviours, and social camouflaging.
Unlike many earlier questionnaires, the CATI was created using extensive psychometric testing alongside input from autistic adults, clinicians, and autism researchers to produce a measure that is both scientifically robust and respectful of autistic experiences.
Many widely used autistic trait questionnaires were created more than twenty years ago. Since then, our understanding of autism has evolved considerably.
The CATI was developed to provide an updated alternative that:
- Reflects current understanding of autism
- measures both social and non-social autistic characteristics
- Uses respectful, accessible language
- Provides strong psychometric performance for research and clinical use
Take the questionnaire
Download questionnaire materials
The Six Subscales of the CATI
The CATI consists of 42 statements covering six important areas of autistic experience:
Social Interactions
How people experience social situations, including comfort, confidence, and social engagement.
Communication
How people interpret and use non-verbal communication, body language, and implied meaning.
Social Camouflage
How people mask, compensate for, or consciously manage autistic characteristics in social situations.
Self-Regulatory Behaviour
Repetitive movements and behaviours that can help regulate emotions, reduce stress, or maintain focus.
Cognitive (In)Flexibility
How people respond to changes in routines, plans, or expectations, and their preference for predictability.
Sensory Sensitivity
How strongly people respond to sensory experiences such as sounds, lights, touch, textures, smells, and tastes.
Development of the CATI
The development and validation of the CATI involved a multi-stage research programme led by researchers at the University of Western Australia (UWA), with contributions from collaborators at The Kids Research Institute Australia, Macquarie University, University College London, and University of British Columbia.
Development began with more than 100 candidate items, which were refined using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses into the current 42-item questionnaire. Throughout this process, autism researchers, clinicians, and autistic adults worked together to identify the most important trait domains, improve item wording, and ensure the questionnaire reflected autistic experiences in a respectful and meaningful way. More recent work has continued this collaborative approach, with autistic advisory groups contributing to updates in subscale names and questionnaire language.
The largest validation study of the CATI to date involved over 1000 autistic adults. Research has demonstrated a stable six-factor structure, strong reliability, and consistent measurement across autistic and non-autistic participants, formally diagnosed and self-identifying autistic adults, and people of different genders.
Who is the CATI for?
The CATI was primarily developed as a research instrument for measuring autistic traits in adults across both autistic and non-autistic populations. It provides researchers with a comprehensive profile of autistic characteristics that reflects current understanding of autism while maintaining strong psychometric performance.
The CATI may also be useful for:
- Researchers investigating autistic traits, individual differences, and autism-related outcomes
- Clinicians, as one component of a broader assessment or screening process
- Autistic and non-autistic adults seeking greater insight into their own pattern of autistic traits
- Students and educators learning about the diversity of autistic experiences
Although the CATI has been extensively evaluated in large samples of autistic and non-autistic adults, it is not a diagnostic instrument. It should not be used as the sole basis for diagnosing autism or making clinical decisions. Research supports its use as a measure of autistic traits and suggests it may be valuable within broader screening processes, but formal diagnosis should always involve comprehensive clinical assessment.
Main development and validation papers
The original paper describing the initial developmnent and validation of the CATI can be found, Open Access, here.
The second paper describing further validation of the CATI, including larger samples of autistic and gender diverse adults, can be found, Open Access, here.
The initial project was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project government grant (DP190103286) and the University of Western Australia. Further validation was supported by a Simons Foundation SFARI Grant (RFA-873809), and Embrace at The Kids Research Institute Australia.