Q10 Mark is 20 years old and is very tall and muscley. He is constantly in trouble with
the police.
When Mark was a toddler, he started to talk at a slightly later age than his sister. At
school Mark found it difficult to concentrate as he was easily distracted from his
work. He was a member of a junior rugby team until he was asked to leave after being
too aggressive. As a teenager, Mark often got into fights. He left school at the age of
16 with average exam results, but his parents were disappointed as he did not do as
well as his sister.
Mark has just been arrested after crashing a stolen car. His mother says his criminal
behaviour is due to his genetics, whilst his father says it is due to Mark being seen as
a naughty child in the past.
Evaluate XYY syndrome as an explanation for Mark’s behaviour.
You must make reference to the context in your answer. (16)
XYY syndrome could explain Mark’s behaviour. This is a condition present only in males,
where there is an extra Y chromosome, making in total 47 chromosomes. Men with this
condition may have a slightly lower intelligence but that is still within the normal range. For
example, Mark left school at the age of 16 with average exam results, but he did not do as
well as his sister. This shows that he had slightly lower intelligence compared to his sister
but is still within the normal range. This might account for him finding it difficult to
concentrate and being easily distracted from his work. Stockholm (2012) found that men with
XYY committed more crimes compared to XY controls.This suggests that XYY syndrome is
associated with poor attention and can hence increase the likelihood of committing crime
due to social reaction such as being more likely to get recognised by police forces. This may
explain Mark often getting into fights and being constantly in trouble with the police.
However, the raised risk of offending may be caused by the socio-economic conditions
related to XYY syndrome due to the slightly lower levels of intelligence being linked to an
increased likelihood of getting caught by the police. Therefore, XYY syndrome is not directly
related to Mark’s offending behaviour, but is just linked to it through achieving lower exam
results compared with his sister.
XYY syndrome may not explain Mark’s aggressive behaviour. This is because Mark being
asked to leave after being too aggressive in the junior rugby team may be a result of his
highly unstable neurotic personality. This is where he reacts excessively in front of minor
stresses, by being too aggressive when his rugby team loses for example, thus leading him
to getting expelled from the team as he cannot manage being calm in the team. Cochrane
(1974) found that prisoners had higher scores on the neurotic personality dimension. This
means that aggressive behaviour from Mark may be due to his highly neurotic personality.
On the other hand, XYY syndrome can also explain Mark being too aggressive in his rugby
team. This is because men with XYY syndrome tend to be overly aggressive and often
display behavioural problems. This may lead them to be more aggressive in sports such as
rugby which Mark was asked to leave from. This implies that XYY syndrome can equally
account for Mark’s excess aggression.
XYY syndrome may explain Mark’s behaviour. Men with XYY syndrome tend to grow faster
and taller than their siblings. For example, Mark is a tall and muscley man who started to talk
at a slightly later age than his sister. Him being arrested after crashing a stolen car might be
due to the XYY syndrome being linked to behavioural problems and learning difficulties. This
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