Commentary: The construct validity of ‘camouflaging’ in autism: psychometric considerations and recommendations for future research ‐ reflection on Lai et al. (2020)
Open accessAbstract
Research on the construct of ‘camouflaging’ in autism and its sociodemographic/clinical correlates has far outpaced the work being done to establish the construct validity of camouflaging and its distinction from other similar constructs. The imprecision with which camouflaging is defined and measured has serious implications for future research on this topic, and unless additional effort is made to produce reliable and valid measurements of this construct, researchers will not be able to meaningfully assess important questions such as whether the effort of camouflaging one's behavior contributes to increased mental health difficulties. By reviewing the psychometric strengths and weaknesses of various operationalizations of camouflaging, this commentary highlights a pressing need for further measure validation in this area. Specific methodological guidance is provided for researchers interested in rigorously testing the validity of putative camouflaging measures.
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Pursuit of these objectives has been cross-sectionally associated with poor mental health, reduced wellbeing, and suicidality, although causal relationships have yet to be demonstrated.
“In some cases, pursuit of these objectives has been cross-sectionally associated with poor mental health, reduced wellbeing, and suicidality (Cassidy et al., 2018; Hull et al., 2019, 2021), although causal relationships have yet to be demonstrated (Williams, 2021).”
From Neurodiversity and Autism Intervention: Reconciling Perspectives Through a Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention Framework (2022) · cites this paper as Williams, 2021
Discussions about the validity and conceptual clarity of the so-called female autism phenotype, camouflaging and the female protective effect are ongoing.
“Discussions about the validity and conceptual clarity of the so-called female (autism) phenotype106,309,310, camouflaging109,311–315 and female protective effect226,316 are ongoing.”
From Sex and gender in neurodevelopmental conditions (2023) · cites this paper as [315]
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- Authors
- Williams, Z. J.
- Affiliations
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Williams, Zachary J.
- ORCID
- Williams, Zachary J.
- Venue
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2021-06-17
- Volume
- 63
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 118-121
- ISSN
- 0021-9630 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-7610
- PMC
- PMC8678389
- OpenAlex
- W3171113476
- Cited by
- 59
- References
- 15
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 3
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (T32‐GM007347)
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (F30‐DC019510)
- Vanderbilt University
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- camouflaging, autism spectrum disorder, construct validity, psychometric validation, mental illness
- MeSH terms
- Autistic Disorder, Humans, Mental Health, Psychometrics, Research Design, Research Personnel
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