Social Management Training in Males With 47,XXY (Klinefelter Syndrome): A Pilot Study of a Neurocognitive-Behavioral Treatment Targeting Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Problems.
A 20-week BST social club helped men with Klinefelter syndrome control emotions and cut problem behavior in half.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team worked with eight adult men who have Klinefelter syndrome (47,XXY).
Each man joined a small group that met once a week for five months.
The class taught Social Management Training: noticing feelings, choosing calm responses, and practicing real-life social steps.
Before and after the course the men filled out mood and behavior forms; no control group was used.
What they found
After the 20-week course the men scored better on every measure.
They reported fewer angry outbursts, less anxiety, and more steady moods.
Parents and staff saw the same gains: medium-size drops in both internalizing and externalizing problems.
How this fits with other research
Gabriels et al. (2001) wrote the first BST manual for social problem-solving with incarcerated men. McPhillips et al. (2021) borrowed the same teach-practice-feedback recipe and showed it also helps males with Klinefelter syndrome.
Hillman et al. (2021) proved that adults with autism can master DTT when trained with BST. The new study widens the circle: BST can coach the learners themselves, not just the staff who teach them.
Jimenez-Gomez et al. (2019) used BST to train technicians in naturalistic play skills and saw strong maintenance. Francien’s team saw similar staying power: the men kept their new emotional tools for the full five-month window.
Why it matters
You now have early evidence that a short, low-cost BST group class can calm emotional storms in clients with Klinefelter syndrome. If your caseload includes teens or adults with social-executive challenges, you can lift the lesson plan, run your own weekly club, and track mood data. Start small, share the manual, and you may give clients a lifelong self-management kit.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Klinefelter syndrome (47,XXY) is associated with problems in social interaction and behavioral adaptation. Sixteen adolescents and adult men with 47,XXY enrolled in a pilot-study evaluating the effectiveness of Social Management Training (SMT), a novel neurocognitive-behavioral treatment program targeted at improving social, emotional, and behavioral functioning. Participants reported improved emotional stability from pre- to post-test (5 months). Informants reported reductions in internalizing and externalizing symptoms, including improvement in self-regulation. Although informants did not report changes in autism-like symptoms, increased awareness of social challenges was found. SMT may improve emotional stability, self-regulation, and self-reflection in people males with Klinefelter syndrome. This potentially efficacious treatment approach may prove to be a promising psychosocial therapeutic intervention for this population.
American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2021 · doi:10.1352/1944-7558-126.1.1