Social deficits in male children and adolescents with sex chromosome aneuploidy: a comparison of XXY, XYY, and XXYY syndromes.
Extra Y chromosomes in boys predict steeper social deficits than XXY alone.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team gave the Social Responsiveness Scale to 102 boys and teens. Each boy had an extra sex chromosome: XXY, XYY, or XXYY.
They wanted to know if more Y chromosomes meant worse social skills. All families filled out the same 65-item questionnaire.
What they found
Boys with XYY and XXYY scored higher on the SRS than boys with XXY. Higher scores mean more social problems.
Every extra-Y group sat above the normal range. The XXY group also struggled, but less than the extra-Y groups.
How this fits with other research
van Rijn et al. (2008) first showed that XXY adults have social trouble. Honigfeld et al. (2012) now shows the same pattern starts in childhood and adds XYY/XXYY data.
Carter et al. (2011) theory says testosterone-linked arousal may drive male-biased autism risk. The extra-Y boys in Lisa’s study fit that idea, because Y chromosomes carry more male-hormone genes.
Mulder et al. (2020) tweaked the SRS for fragile-X. Lisa used the standard SRS, so future work could borrow A’s item cuts to sharpen screening in sex-chromosome disorders.
Why it matters
If a client has XYY or XXYY, expect social deficits that look autism-like and plan early social-skills training. For XXY clients, still screen, but problems may be milder. Use the SRS at intake and share results with the medical team; extra Y chromosomes signal higher support need.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
We compare social skills in three groups of males with sex chromosome aneuploidies (SCAs) using the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS). Participants included males with XXY (N=102, M=10.08 years), XYY (N=40, M=9.93 years), and XXYY (N=32, M=11.57 years). XXY had lower (better) SRS scores compared to XYY and XXYY. Scores were not significantly different between XYY and XXYY. In all groups, there were significantly more with SRS scores in the severe range compared to the SRS normative sample. All groups scored lowest (better) on Social Motivation. Relationships between SRS scores and demographic and clinical variables were examined. Results describe the social skills in males with SCA, and suggest that an additional Y chromosome may contribute to increased risk of autistic behaviors.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2012 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2012.02.013