STUDIES ON THE XYY SYNDROME - WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO PSYCHIATRIC ASPECTS

• NCJ Number: 57019
• Journal: BULLETIN OF THE OSAKA MEDICAL SCHOOL Volume: 21 Issue: 1 Dated: (JULY 1975) Pages: 42-75
• Author(s): S USUI
• Date Published: 1975
• Length: 34 pages
• Corporate Author: Osaka Medical College
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: Japan
• Note: PRESENTED TO THE 19TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE JAPAN SOCIETY OF HUMAN GENETICS

Annotation

THE INCIDENCE AND PSYCHIATRIC CORRELATES OF THE XYY SEX CHROMOSOME ABNORMALITY IN SAMPLES OF INSTITUTIONALIZED PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS AND JUVENILE DELINQUENTS IN JAPAN ARE INVESTIGATED.

Abstract

STUDY SUBJECTS WERE 269 MALE INPATIENTS OF MENTAL HOSPITALS NEAR OSAKA AND 252 INSTITUTIONALIZED JUVENILE DELINQUENTS. SAMPLE SELECTION WAS BASED ON THE CRITERION OF HEIGHT. (UNUSUAL TALLNESS IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE XYY SYNDROME). THE XYY ABNORMALITY WAS FOUND IN THREE PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS AND ONE DELINQUENT. THE BACKGROUNDS OF THE CHROMOSOMALLY ABNORMAL SUBJECTS WERE EXPLORED IN DEPTH, AND THE SUBJECTS WERE EXAMINED MEDICALLY AND PSYCHOLOGICALLY. ALL OF THE SUBJECTS WERE FOUND TO HAVE IMMATURE, EGOCENTRIC PERSONALITIES CHARACTERIZED BY IMPULSIVENESS, LACK OF SELF-CONTROL, AND INSTABILITY. THE TERM 'PSYCHOINFANTILISM' SUMS UP THE PERSONALITY TRAITS COMMON TO ALL FOUR SUBJECTS. THE THREE PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS SHOWED SUCH PSYCHOTIC SYMPTOMS AS HALLUCINATIONS, DELUSIONS, DISTURBED EGO FUNCTIONING, AND ABNORMAL BODY SENSATION, BUT THEIR SYMPTOMS DIFFERED FROM THOSE OF TYPICAL SCHIZOPHRENIA. ONE SUBJECT HAD A NORMAL IQ (INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT), ONE WAS BORDERLINE, AND TWO WERE MORONS. PHYSICAL TESTS (ELECTROCARDIOGRAM, ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM, HORMONAL AND HISTOLOGICAL TESTS, VISIBLE DEFORMITIES) REVEALED SOME ABNORMALITIES, ALTHOUGH NONE WAS CONSISTENTLY PRESENT IN ALL FOUR SUBJECTS. THE FINDINGS ARE COMPARED WITH THOSE OF OTHER RESEARCHERS. DETAILED CASE STUDIES, SUPPORTING DATA, AND A LIST OF REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED. (LKM)