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Klinefelter's syndrome and sexual offending - a literature review
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Klinefelter's syndrome is a sex chromosome abnormality affecting approximately 1 in 1000 men. There have been suggestions that it is associated with a higher than average prevalence of sexual offending but to what extent does research evidence support this assertion? AIMS: This study aimed to conduct a systematic review of published research to establish the prevalence of sexual offending in men with Klinefelter's syndrome. METHOD: The databases MEDLINE, PsycINFO and EMBASE were searched from inception until 31 December 2016 by using a range of terms for Klinefelter's syndrome and for sexual offending. All selected papers were examined for quality by using the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology checklist. RESULTS: We identified 53 relevant papers of which 10 met our inclusion criteria. All but one were prevalence studies conducted in a prison or hospital setting. The one, Danish, register-based cohort study did suggest an increased risk of sex offending among Klinefelter men, probably established before the diagnosis was made and, therefore, any hormone replacement instituted. CONCLUSION: There is insufficient evidence to date to support concerns about exceptional risk of sex offending among men with Klinefelter's syndrome. Rather, it is arguable that there is a research gap in understanding how the experience of and treatment for their condition may affect them. Copyright (c) 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Date
2017
Type
Article
Subject
Sex offenses, Sex chromosome aberrations
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Citation
O'Donovan, R. & Vollm, B. (2017). Klinefelter's syndrome and sexual offending - a literature review. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 28 (2), pp. 132-140.
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Publisher’s statement
This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: Klinefelter's syndrome and sexual offending - a literature review, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cbm.2052. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.