Psychosocial competence of unselected young adults with sex chromosome abnormalities

Very little is known about the adult adaptation of individuals with sex chr omosome ab. normalities (SCA) except for a few reports based upon biased sa mples of clinically identified patients. This first report from the Denver SCA study on the adult psychosocial adaptation of 36 unselected propositi, identified at birth, shows a continuation of mild psychological and social problems. Psychiatric interviews and self-reported information revealed tha t adaptation is quite variable, with many of the nonmosaic propositi not fa ring as well as their siblings, but in a few instances exceeding the succes s of brothers and sisters. Within this group of SCA subjects a subset demon strated more marked pathology and a tendency to overrate their social adapt ation relative to the psychiatric interviewer, suggesting that the exclusiv e use of self-report questionnaires may not provide accurate assessment of psychological characteristics in this and other special populations. The fu ll adult SCA behavioral phenotype has not yet been established but is emerg ing through. additional reports from this and other studies of unselected S CA adults. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.