I am tall, lean, and physically powerful. At age 47, I still take medicine for acne. I have a temper that I work hard to control. And I've learned to avoid situations that set me off. I have never physically hurt anyone in anger.
I've got my faults. I'm a macho, generally well-liked man who enjoys being single and tries to live clean. There's been some romance, and no real problems here. A few women have even said I look okay and/or am a nice guy.
My muscles are stronger than they are coordinated, so I've focused on strength-endurance sports like gymming and swimming. But I'm a fair keyboard player.
I've got a pectus chest deformity and a wiring problem with my left eye. Cognitively, I'm a little "different" and always have been. But it doesn't bug me.
Uhh... do I sound like something you've read about recently?
If you are visiting, you perhaps:
Most males have the 46-XY karyotype, but about 1 guy in 1000 has two Y chromosomes, and is an XYY ("diplo-Y", "diplo Y", "YY", "polysomy Y", "Jacob's syndrome"). If XYY men are at any greater "risk" of fathering XYY or XXY sons, the increase is small (Zygote 7: 131, 1999; <=1% Reproduction 121: 655, 2001).
When first discovered, popular science writers speculated that the extra "Y" would make owners act more masculine -- i.e., more aggressive, irresponsible, and criminal. Uh-huh. Richard Speck, the killer of eight student nurses, pretended (falsely) to be an XYY to obtain leniency, thus popularizing the "XYY's are criminals" story. The famous Nielsen letter in Lancet Sept 7, 1968 claiming that the prevalence of XYY men in prison was "25-60 times as high as the prevalence in the general population" remains a shocking example of how to mislead the public using small-sample statistics -- there were only two XYY's identified in the study. Aliens 3 was set in an offworld "penal colony for XYY's", and folklore continues to this day.
There's no question that XYY's average substantially taller, tend to be wiry-built, and tend to have severe acne. Minor birth defects -- like pectus, crooked eye, and minor outturning of the elbows, are supposed to be common in XYY's.
It will probably not surprise any adult visitor to this site that the average blood testosterone (the rocket-fuel that drives male sexual characteristics and behaviors) averages much higher in some men than in others. XYY's average higher than XY men. Men in prison average higher than men not in prison. When you control for the high testosterone levels, the most recent published study (Arch. Gen. Psych. 41: 93, 1984, from Copenhagen) showed there is no over-representation of XYY men in prison. ("Information from social records, a structured psychological interview, and projective tests did not support the notion that men with sex chrmosome anomalies are particularly violent or aggressive.")
XYY's average only slightly lower intelligence than XY's, and the range is the same for both groups. If XYY's really exhibit severe behavior problems, it has resisted demonstration by the best scientific minds in the field of genetics. Here's why -- it's something called "ascertainment bias". Kids who are screened for chromosomal problems tend to be learning and/or behavior problems. If they come up with XYY, it's easy to blame the karyotype. What's more, somebody doing bad science can get up a series: "Look at all the XYY's I've discovered, and most of them have mental problems!" (See the fallacy?) But to date, nobody's shown that XYY's are more common among kids who are screened for these problems than in the general population. And if XYY was itself a major problem, you'd think this would have been accomplished long ago.
Now, XXYY boys traditionally been considered at increased risk for emotional and cognitive problems. (For an update on XXYY from a parents' group, see http://xxyysyndrome.org/". The condition is rare enough that we're still in the "single case report" stage; the most recent work seems to confirm the prevailing wisdom, but once again, we don't see the picture of violent criminals (Arch. Gen. Psych. 56: 194, 1999), and one always wonders about ascertainment bais. The extra "Y" in an XYY is obviously not silent (as is the extra "X" in a XXX woman). It seems likely that the second "Y" adds a bit more aggressiveness to a man's overall personality. And I don't know that this is necessarily a bad thing. Despite decades of male-bashing from the Left, I think most people still like a man (or woman) who is responsibly aggressive.
When I'm certain I won't lose my own health insurance, I'll find out for certain whether I am an XYY. In the meantime:
After reviewing the evidence, I find no reason to think that XYY makes men crazy, retarded, or criminals.
If you are considering ending the life of your unborn child "just because he is an XYY", don't do it.
A site called Intersex Resources for
Christians is now down.
1. Some Christians believe that birth defects
are caused by direct divine intervention, and that a person
should not dislike them or seek to have them altered even if they wish to do so.
2. Other Christians believe that God does not micromanage the world,
and that
birth defects are accidents of nature.
If you have a birth defect, or anything else that interferes with your working,
playing, and/or loving others, and it can be corrected by human wisdom
and technology -- then by all means have it corrected.
You should be asked to accept and tolerate
only the things that you cannot change. In the meantime, we are required
to follow Christ in reaching out to misfits of all kinds and offering
help of whatever kind we are able. We seek to create a world where
any decent person can find acceptance and opportunity.
Both schools of thought agree that good often comes from seeming misfortune.
My position, of course, is #2.
Current articles from the refereed medical literature:
Prenatal Diagnosis 17: 363, 1997. Around 1 boy in 1000 is
an XYY, and most completely escape detection. "It would appear
that most undiagnosed [XYY's] do not look or behave in a manner
which prompts testing for a chromosomal abnormality."
Ciba Foundation Symposium 194: 248, 1996.
On criminal law and genetics. "The chapter begins by
examining the scientifically-discredited XYY defense."
Genetic Counseling 6: 197, 1995. "Shows that
the frequency of
mental retardation is not increased in XYY males in general."
Only 24% of the XYY men -- despite the selection bias --
were considered to have interpersonal /
personality problems. I don't know what their criteria were,
but that sounds about like the "normal" guys.
J. Am. Acad. Child. Ad. Psych. 37: 286, 1998.
From Harmon, Bender, Linden & Robinson at U Colorado School
of Medicine. Focus on XXX, but "this longitudinal study
has clarified that previously reported outcomes of severe
psychopathology and antisocial behavior in individuals with
sex chromosome anomalies are rare, and variability in
behavioral phenotype is much larger than originally
appreciated."
Can. J. Psych. 43: 619, 1998. A reseracher at U. of
Toronto reports that two of forty boys referred for pervasive
developmental disorder (autism and its variants)
were XYY's. This speculative
paper seems to me to be most likely founded on a coincidence.
J. Int. Disab. Res. 42 Pt 1: 8-12, 1998. Ann Arbor researcher
has one XYY in a series of 75 boys with pervasive developmenal
disorder. Again, this seems like a probable coincidence.
Cancer Genetics 90: 179, 1996. Japanese researchers do
a large study and find that the old claim that XYY's were more at
risk for leukemia / lymphoma was based on a few coincidences rather than
any causal relationship.
Psych. Med. 29: 953-62, July 1999. "The Gotz study." Of 34380 babies screened
at birth, the 16 available XYY's were followed up.
This Scottish study eliminates the ascertainment bias described above,
and supports the idea that XYY has a mild effect on behavior. The
authors found significantly more criminal convictions among the XYY
group than among a group of matched XY's. They also diagnosed
"antisocial personality" more frequently in the XYY's.
There are some problems with this study which should be considered
before anybody takes these findings at face value. These include
Dev. Med. Child. Neuro. 47: 558, 2005. A Norwegian
group had two XYY's referred for behavior that seemed to be
attention deficit disorder; treatment with methylphenidate helped
the kids socially and with their schoolwork.
J. Dent. Res. 83: 771, 2004. Good study from Finland,
where karyotyping is evidently common enough to have allowed a group
of dentists to determine that XYY's have notably longer roots on their teeth.
Hum. Repro. 21: 1749, 2006. A few XYY's have infertility
due to a mechanism that seems to be caused by the presence of the extra Y.
Genetic Counseling 14: 267, 2003. A group in Belgium
followed 38 boys diagnosed prenatally. There was a significant additional
risk of delayed language onset and/or motor development, but intelligence
averaged normal. The group also claimed that in 50%, psychosocial problems
were documented, though exactly how this stacks up against ordinary kids
isn't clear. The group found an increase in referrals to "special ed" programs.
The group concluded that there is an increased risk for
autism, which we'd have to conclude is simply a trend
given that we have only 38 boys. Please keep in mind that all 38 pairs of parents
were told the child was XYY, and probably that there would be problems as a result.
Contrast this with the much larger Scottish study cited above. The fact that
XYY's seemed to have much more trouble in the elementary school system
than as adults invites the conclusion
that we are dealing with a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Arch. Dis. Child. 80: 192, 1999. This review is by
Shirley G Ratcliffe, who is one of the authors on the above paper,
and it obviously describes the same small sample plus three new ones.
Because the author did not mention that one of the XYY's in the study
was a career criminal, readers might misunderstand her talk
about a greatly increased conviction rate for XYY's.
Am. J. Med. Genet. B: Neuropsych. Genet. 141: 198, 2006.
A group in Germany found in a retrospective study that
three of 166 male perpetrators of sexual homicide
were XYY's. Any scientist reading the paper will notice
the small-sample statistics (i.e., this could be
explained easily by dumb luck) and likelihood of publication bias (i.e., if they
hadn't found a scary result, they wouldn't have published it).
The group repeats the old claim that there is a significant over-representation
of XYY's in prison popuplations.
One scientific study that is conspicuous by its absence is
a look at overall achievement by XYY's who choose military careers.
It would be fairly easy to do in the countries where there was a great deal
of prenatal screening. If anyone knows of an unpublished study,
please let me know.
Science in
Dispute carries an out-of-date article on
xYY. Although there are some recent references, the writer
refers primarily to articles more than two decades old.
"Much more recently" refers to an article from 1988.
She also refers uncritically to the Gotz study as if the fallacy (one rotten apple) wasn't obvious.
Afterwards: I have received dozens of E-mails about this page
from parents of XYY boys. Most of them shared that their sons
showed no particular behavior problems. Several mentioned their sons
having short fuses and being hard to handle when they
are angry, but that's been all. Others have expressly said
there's been no particular temper problems. To date, not one of them
regrets bringing their boy into the world. Only one correspondent
so far has described a sociopath (i.e., a lifelong pattern of
heartless indifference to the rights of others, even those who treat
him with kindness). Sociopathy is all-too-common,
and the vast majority of
sociopaths have a normal karyotype. Despite the correspondent's feelings
about the cause of her brother's behavior,
it is hard for me to see anything
but a coincidence.
Here are E-mail addresses of some folks with XYY sons / XYY. To date,
only one family has asked that their e-mail be removed, some years after
it was posted.
E-mail now down. The family
of XYY boy Hayden Winkler -- "a 4 year old who was prenatally diagnosed
and is at top form for his age."
Elizabeth Wright
wrote me when this page first went up over a decade ago.
I wrote to you years ago when our son was very young (perhaps age 2 or
4).
He at that time was an absolutely, wonderful, easy ,smart, intelligent
child. He still is.
He is, however a teenager, and any frustrating behaviours can easily
be explained by that fact. He is 6 feet at age 16...
He has done well scholastically.
I recall being very concerned prenatally with the diagnosis of XYY and
I have to say that it rarely enters our minds now.
He is a wonderful person and we love him hugely.
Followup (2006): He is in school and doing fine, tall and thin and healthy.
Jomama26@aol.com glaceir14@aol.com -- Matthew
is a young adult who recently learned of his karyotype. He tells me that
people are surprised to learn this, since they say he's "one of the nicest guys they know."
lorenzosuarezca@aol.com -- Lorenzo writes:
(Follow-up: September 2011) Jonathan is in his junior yaer at a
big fancy northern California university. http://historyofxyyboy.blogspot.com/
spakizer@neogen.com Stephanie Pakizer
is married to "a great guy wity XYY".
banjoid7@yahoo.com Mark LeMond, in Oklahoma,
says he is the parent of an XYY son "who is truly wonderful at six months old." He invites
other parents of XYY's to mail him.
mlwgds@telus.net -- Leanne and Mike Stewart
are very happy with Greg, who's now a teenager. "What a cool kid!" "We have had people
contact us to discuss their XYY sons with us. It has been a pleasure to let them know
our son Greg is doing very well. He is now in grade 12."
Our XYY Son -- link is now down.
Rachel Cooper (pseud.) has written a book about an XYY son called
"Hidden Tears and Happy Smiles", available from
Lucky Duck Publishing.
A family whose e-mail no longer works writes:
Jonathan.
"I think he's pretty much a normal kid."
Mark from New York (e-mail available from me):
Mark
One of my cyberfriends, who has a son on the way with XYY, wrote me:
Amber Gilkes operates XYY Australia. I appreciate her visiting and letting me know about her boy.
Share yours? Mail me at efriedlander@wmcarey.edu.
Thanks!
Addendum: Several subscientific pages are now down.
One particularly bad page (formerly at www.genetic.org>
is thankfully now down.
There's also a YouTube video that anyone who's read this page
will recognize as bogus.
I also cannot recommend a pamphlet, supposedly from a British
academic department, that states (for example), "The majority of XYY men (around 75%)
are in employment (sic.) Typical jobs include self-employment in business,
catering workers (chefs and waiters), clerks, shop assistants and
community service workers." I am not aware that this is anything more than the author's
personal impression. Since she deals with people who are already identified
as abnormal
and are coming to see her to get checked, my best guess is that this
has tainted her "series".
Unlike most publications from academic departments,
no other member of the department was willing to place their name on her pamphlet.
Draw your own conclusion.
I was pleased to be listed among these people's resources.
There are at least two schools of thought in Christian circles about
birth defects.
Ed's notes on genetics with references.
Whatever issues I may have with this study, I think most people
would agree with the author's conclusion:The investigation provides some reassurance
that the enhancement of liability to criminal behavior in XYY
individuals is relatively limited.
New visitors to www.pathguy.com
reset Jan. 30, 2005:
Carol and Bob, delighted with their XYY son.
If there is anybody who needs our help or just to talk about XYY
syndrome please tell them to e-mail us!
rayco@speedlink.com
LadyGreige@aol.com
jomama26@panola.com -- Tommy and Vicky Watson are happy with young Joe
krspykreme@aol.com -- very happy with young David
domain_master52@hotmail.com -- Jay Carswell
is an XYY mosaic. He describes the bony fusion in the elbows.
"I am very happy with who I am."
We have a son, 11 years old. We were counseled about an abortion before the child
was born. Today he had a checkup. He is perfectly fine at this stage. At the
counseling session we heard same stuff about criminal behavior
and aggression. I thought, that this unborn child was going to be a rapist.
Toledo is a designer for machines, including
the apparatus that is used worldwide for inhalation therapy, and
some improvements on automobiles and welding machinery.
His manufacturing company
has 55 employees. He's a community leader and encourages
others to let their XYY children have a chance at life. "I have
to say that many people would not have been helped, if I were not born."
My wife and I consider our son a gift from God. As far as I'm concerned,
he is going to be brought up no differently than any other child. It is my
responsibility to be an effective and positive influence in his life.
I cannot be judge and jury for parents with a son diagnosed as XYY.
But I will say this. If you can be a little patient with more
physical and aggressive behavior, but keeping in mind to channel
it right away, there is no difference in my opinion. Stern
and loving approach right off the mark is all I'm going to recommend.
Tiani from Alaska asked me to protest CBS's decision to portray XYY as "criminal genes"
in a show on May 13, 2007. (I have never owned a television,
but as a pathologist, what I hear about the show tells me that much of it is
just Hollywood.) She characterizes her 8-year-old XYY son Joey as
"a wonderful, loving boy, through and through... smart as a whip and very creative --
but impulsive, naturally.... At just-turned-8 he is over 1 1/2 feet tall
already. No couch potato here, no games that would encourage sedentary
participation -- he's outdoors nearly year round."
She advises parents who have trouble with school bureaucracies
to contact the Disability Law Center.
I have read your detailed research rebuttals and am impressed with your site. I am 31 years old, owner of my own business, 6'2", have occassional acne, and slight hyper extension of my elbows. I have a 130 IQ (tested), no social problems, or criminal history. I am happily married and plan to have children. I just found out I was 47XYY, just testing out of curiousity as to why I am so much taller than my parents and sister. I just want people to know that I knew all of this before I knew I was XYY. Don't treat your kids any different, and Im certain they will embrace life as I did. they are no different. If anything, they are better.
I am a physicist in Israel and expecting an XYY son to be born on March 2008.
Your page on the topic has proven very useful to me in gathering info on the topic,
and allaying the concerns of my family.
I thought I would add one correction to your bibliographic summary on the topic:
in your description of the 2003 article in Gen. Couns. you did not mention the fact
that out of the 38 individuals studied only 12 were prenataly diagnosed, the rest
were diagnosed after being referred for genetic testing due to ADD, violence, autism
or other problems. There is a slightly increased percentage of these problems also among
the 12 diagnosed prenataly, but the sample size in this case is far too small to make a
clear statement on the matter. Furthermore the autism referred to (which was the most
worrying issue for me) was observed only in the late diagnosed group, making this claim
completely unfounded in my opinion.
I will be happy if you add this info to your page.