Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-8bljj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-23T17:19:49.634Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The XYY syndrome: a study of four subjects and their families1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

D. R. Pitcher ,
A. M. C. Macfie ,
W. I. Carter  and
J. Kahn
D. R. Pitcher*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, The Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, at Friern Hospital, London, The Maudsley Hospital, London, Stamford House Remand Home, London, and the Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Denmark Hill, London
A. M. C. Macfie
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, The Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, at Friern Hospital, London, The Maudsley Hospital, London, Stamford House Remand Home, London, and the Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Denmark Hill, London
W. I. Carter
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, The Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, at Friern Hospital, London, The Maudsley Hospital, London, Stamford House Remand Home, London, and the Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Denmark Hill, London
J. Kahn
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, The Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, at Friern Hospital, London, The Maudsley Hospital, London, Stamford House Remand Home, London, and the Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Denmark Hill, London
*
2Address for correspondence: Dr. D. R. Pitcher, Department of Psychiatry, The Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, Friern Hospital, London N.11.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

A study of four 47XYY subjects and their families is reported. These subjects were all exceptionally tall; were mostly of good intelligence and from intelligent families; and all had a history of delinquency or criminality, although they came from respectable homes. Evidence is presented, however, to suggest that both adverse environmental influences and constitutional factors other than their supernumary chromosomes nevertheless operated in these cases, indicating that their deviant behaviour need not be directly related to their chromosomal abnormality. The implications of these findings are discussed with respect especially to their bearing on conclusions drawn in the literature on the XYY syndrome.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , February 1974 , pp. 38 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1974

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

This work was supported in part by a grant to D. R. Pitcher from the Medical Research Council.

References

REFERENCES

Balodimos, M. C., Lisco, H., Irwin, I., Merrill, W., and Dingman, J. F. (1966). XYY Karyotype in a case of familial hypogonadism. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 26, 443–452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartlett, D. J., Hurley, W. P., Brand, C. R., and Poole, E. W. (1968). Chromosomes of male patients in a security prison. Nature, 219, 351–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brittain, R. P. (1970). The sadistic murderer. Medicine, Science and the Law, 10, 198–207.Google Scholar
Casey, M. D. (1970). The family and behavioural history of patients with chromosome abnormality in the special hospitals of Rampton and Moss Side. In Criminological Implications of Chromosome Abnormalities. Edited by D. J. West. Papers presented to the Cropwood Round-Table Conference, 1969. Institute of Criminology: Cambridge.Google Scholar
Court-Brown, W. M. (1968). Males with an XYY sex chromosome complement. Journal of Medical Genetics, 5, 341–359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eysenck, H. J. (1970). Crime and Personality. 2nd edn.Paladin: London.Google Scholar
Eysenck, H. J. and Eysenck, S. B. G. (1964). Manual of the Eysenck Personality Inventory. University of London Press: London.Google Scholar
Eysenck, S. B. G., and Eysenck, H. J. (1968a). The measurement of psychoticism: a study of factor stability and reliability. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 7, 286–294.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eysenck, H. J., and Eysenck, S. B. G. (1968b). A factorial study of psychoticism as a dimension of personality. Multivariate Behaviorat Research, Special Issue, 15–31.Google Scholar
Eysenck, S. B. G., and Eysenck, H. J. (1972). The questionnaire measurement of psychoticism. Psychological Medicine, 2, 50–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fenton, G. W., Tennant, T. G., Comish, K. A., and Rattray, N. (1971). The EEG and sex chromosome abnormalities. British Journal of Psychiatry, 119, 185–190.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Foulds, G. A., and Caine, T. M. (1965). Personality and Personal Illness. Tavistock: London.Google Scholar
Fox, R. G. (1971). The XYY offender: a modern myth? Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science, 62, 59–73.Google Scholar
Griffiths, A. W. (1971). Prisoners of XYY constitution: psychological aspects. British Journal of Psychiatry, 119, 193–194.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hope, K., Philip, A. E., and Loughran, J. M. (1967). Psychological characteristics associated with XYY sex-chromo-some complement in a state hospital. British Journal of Psychiatry, 113, 495–498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ismail, A. A. A., and Harkness, R. A. (1966). A method for the estimation of urinary testosterone. Biochemical Journal, 99, 717–725.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ismail, A. A. A., Harkness, R. A., Kirkham, K. E., Loraine, J. A., Whatmore, P. B., and Brittain, R. P. (1968). Effect of abnormal sex-chromosome complements on urinary levels. Lancet, 1, 220–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, P. A., Brunton, M., Melville, M. M., Brittain, R. P., and McClemont, W. F. (1965). Aggressive behaviour, mental sub-normality, and the XYY male. Nature, 208, 1351–1352.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jacobs, P. A., Price, W. H., Court-Brown, W. M., Brittain, R. P., and Whatmore, P. B. (1968). Chromosome studies on men in a maximum security hospital. Annals of Human Genetics, 31, 339–358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnsen, S. G. (1958). A clinical routine-method for the quantitative determination of gonadotrophins in 24-hour urine samples. Acta Endocrinologica, 28, 69–88.Google ScholarPubMed
Kahn, J., Carter, W. I., Dernley, N., and Slater, E. T. O. (1970). Chromosome studies in remand home and prison populations. In Criminological Implications of Chromosome Abnormalities, pp. 44–48. Edited by West, D. J.. Institute of Criminology: Cambridge.Google Scholar
Leff, J. P., and Scott, P. D. (1968). XYY and intelligence. Lancet, 1, 654.Google ScholarPubMed
Loraine, J. A., and Bell, E. T. (1966). Hormone Assays and their Clinical Application. 2nd edn.Livingstone: Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Loraine, J. A., and Brown, J. B. (1959). A method for the quantitative determination of gonadotrophins in the urine of non-pregnant human subjects. Journal of Endocrinology, 18, 77–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moorhead, P. S., Nowell, P. C., Mellman, W. J., Batips, D. M., and Hungerford, D. A. (1960). Chromosome preparations of leukocytes cultured from human peripheral blood. Experimental Cell Research, 20, 613–616.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Naftolin, F., Espeland, D., Tremann, J. A., Dillard, E. A., and Paulsen, C. A. (1968). Serum HLH levels in ovarian and systemic vein blood by radio-immunoassay. In Gonadotrophins 1968, Proceedings of the Workshop Conference held at Vista Hermosa, pp. 373–379. Edited by Rosemberg, E.. Morelos, Mexico, Geron-X: Los Altos, California.Google Scholar
Nielsen, J. (1970). Criminality among patients with Kline-felter's syndrome and the XYY syndrome. British Journal of Psychiatry, 117, 365–369.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nielsen, J., Johansen, K., and Yde, H. (1969). Frequency of diabetes mellitus in patients with Klinefelter's syndrome of different chromosome constitutions and the XYY syndrome. Plasma insulin and growth hormone level after a glucose load. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 29, 1062–1073.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pitcher, D. R. (1971a). The XYY syndrome. British Journal of Hospital Mediane, 5, 379–393.Google Scholar
Pitcher, D. R. (1971b). A Study of Subjects with an XYY Sex-Chromosome Constitution and their Familles. M.Phil. dissertation, University of London.Google Scholar
Price, W. H., Strong, J. A., Whatmore, P. B., and McClemont, W. F. (1966). Criminal patients with XYY sex-chromosome complement. Lancet, 1, 565–566.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robins, L. N. (1966). Deviant Children Grown Up. Williams and Wilkins: Baltimore.Google Scholar
Rudd, B. T., Galal, O. M., and Casey, M. D. (1968). Testosterone excretion rates in normal males and males with an XYY complement. Journal of Medical Genetics, 5, 286–288.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M., and Brown, G. W. (1966). The reliability and validity of measures of family life and relationships in families containing a psychiatric patient. Social Psychiatry, 1, 38–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schalch, D. S., Parlow, A. F., Boon, R. C., and Reichlin, S. (1968). Measurement of human luteinizing hormone in plasma by radioimmunoassay. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 47, 665–678.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schulsinger, F. (1972). Psychopathy: heredity and environment. International Journal of Mental Health, 1, 190–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, P. D., and Kahn, J. (1968). An XYY patient of above average intelligence as a basis for review of the psychopathology, medico-legal implications of the syndrome, and possibilities for prevention. In Psychopathic Offenders, pp. 56–62. Edited by West, D. J.. Institute of Criminology: Cambridge.Google Scholar
Tanner, J. M. (1951). Current advances in the study of physique. Lancet, 1, 574–579.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wakeling, A., Haq, A., Naftolin, F., Neill, M. P., and Horton, R. (1973). Studies on the activity of the pituitary-gonadal axis in the XYY syndrome. Psychological Medicine, 3, 28–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed