Jeffery Dahmer was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was the first of two sons of Joyce Annette, a teletype machine instructor, and Lionel Herbert Dahmer, a Marquette University chemistry student and later, a research chemist.
Some sources say Dahmer was deprived of attention as an infant. Other sources, however, suggest that he was generally doted upon as an infant and toddler by both parents, although his mother was known to be tense, greedy for both attention and pity, and argumentative with her husband and their neighbours.
Dahmer had been an energic and happy child but became notably subdued after double hernia surgery shortly after his 4th birthday.
At elementary school, Dahmer was regarded as quiet and timid; one teacher later recollected she detected signs of abandonment.