Early impact of X- and Y-chromosome variations (XXX, XXY, XYY) on social communication and social emotional development in 1-2-year-old children

Sex chromosome trisomies (SCTs) are characterized by an extra X- or Y-chromosome (XXX, XXY, XYY). The present study aims to investigate early signs of social communication and social emotional development in very young children with SCT. Thirty-four children with SCT (aged 12-24 months) were included in this study, as well as 31 age-matched controls. Social communication was measured with structured behavior observations according to the Early Social Communication Scales, and social emotional developmental level with the Bayley Social Emotional parental questionnaire. Recruitment and assessment took place in the Netherlands and in the United States. On average, 12-24-month old children with SCT showed difficulties with early social communication, more so in responding to others as compared to initiating social communications. During social interactions, children with SCT made less frequent eye contact, compared to controls. Also, difficulties in acquiring social emotional milestones were found in 1-year old children with SCT, with 44% of the children having social emotional vulnerabilities in the borderline or extremely low range, compared to typically developing children. In this cohort, no significant predictive effects of karyotype-subtype (XXX, XXY, XYY) were found. Already from a very early age, SCT can be associated with increased risk for vulnerabilities in adaptive social functioning. These findings suggest that SCT impact the maturation of the social brain already from an early age, and stress the importance of early monitoring and (preventive) support early social development in young children with SCT.