Illness and accidental injury in young and older adult left‐ and right‐handers: Implications for genetic theories of hand preference

Porac, Clare; Friesen, Ingrid C.; Barnes, Maria P.; Gruppuso, Vincenza

doi:10.1080/87565649809540705

Cited by 20 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…This seems to be mainly the result of increased proneness to accidents and mortality during warfare (Coren, 1989;Bhairo et al, 1992;Graham et al, 1993;Wright et al, 1996). Some studies do not support the association of increased injury proneness and left-handedness (Peters & Perry, 1991;Macniven, 1994;Porac et al, 1998) indicating that the issue is, for the least, controversial. The putative association of handedness and injury proneness is conventionally interpreted as resulting from the design of our environment to suit the right-handed majority, but this hypothesis is difficult to test.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

More injuries in left‐footed individual lizards and Sphenodon

2003

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In lizards and Sphenodon, often the fourth toes of individuals with intact tails have more subdigital lamellae on the right than on the left side, and the opposite situation frequently occurs in individuals with injured tails. The difference between intact and injured individuals in morphological directional asymmetry was statistically significant (P < 0.05) in 11.4% among 193 species from various lizard families. Lizard families varied in extent and direction of association, but no phylogenetic constraints were detected within genera. Statistical significance was greater in samples from homogenous geographic origin than from heterogeneous ones. Among gekkonid species, the difference was stronger in those with cursorial (terrestrial) habits, than in those with scansorial (rupestral or arboreal) habits. In Scincidae, loss seems more often lethal in left-footed than in right-footed individuals. Statistically significant associations between morphological left-side dominance and tail injury exist also in three independent lineages with reduced limbs (Anguidae, Scincidae and Teidae). Hence such association is probably not a result of limb function. Rather, left-side dominance seems to be the symptom of an unknown, perhaps organismwide, detrimental trait. Polymorphism in morphological dominance existed in all species, suggesting advantages and disadvantages in different situations to both phenotypes. We propose the hypothesis that an inversion of side dominance may occur in a single trait without systematic inversion of side dominance in all traits of the body. Inversion in a single trait causes incompatibility in multiple-trait functions. Such a mechanism, rather than cultural conventions, could increase accident proneness also in left-handed Homo sapiens, and could explain increased proneness to accident and warfare mortality in left-handed men, beyond the possible involvement of cultural factors.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

More injuries in left‐footed individual lizards and Sphenodon

2003

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“…It is well known that many left-handers experience considerable pressure-often accompanied by threats, punishment, and coercion-to switch from left-to right-hand preference (Galobardes, Bernstein, & Morabia, 1999;Hugdahl, Satz, Mitrushina, & Miller, 1993;Porac, 1993Porac, , 1996Porac, Coren, & Searleman, 1986;Porac & Friesen, 2000;Porac, Friesen, Barnes, & Gruppuso, 1998). The most likely agents for trying to bring about this conversion process are parents and early grade school teachers (Harris, 1990;Hugdahl et al, 1993;Porac et al, 1986), with the hand used for writing being the primary behavioural target within and across cultural groups (Beukelaar & Kroonenberg, 1986;Brackenridge, 1981;Gilbert & Wysocki, 1992;Peters, 1995;Porac, 1996;Porac et al, 1986;Porac & Friesen, 2000;Porac, Rees, & Buller, 1990).…”

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confidence: 97%

“…However, with the advent of more relaxed and enlightened attitudes regarding public displays of hand preferences, the pressure to switch towards the right side has greatly abated (but not disappeared) in many countries and cultures during the last few decades (Corballis, 1983;Galobardes et al, 1999;Hugdahl et al, 1993;Perelle & Ehrman, 1994;Porac, 1996;Porac, Coren, & Duncan, 1980;Porac & Friesen, 2000;Porac et al, 1998). For instance, based on a recent review of the literature, Porac and Friesen (2000) estimated that over 80% of left-handers older than 75 years remember an attempt to switch hand preference to the right side, as compared to only 24% among young adult left-handers.…”

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confidence: 98%

Lateral preference patterns as possible correlates of successfully switched left hand writing: Data and a theory

Searleman¹,

Porac²

2001

Laterality

Self Cite

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Left-handers often have had to contend with pressure to switch their preferred writing hand and shift attempt reports are common, especially among older adult left-handers. Three groups of left-handers can be defined by combining two variables, writing hand side and the report of a rightward hand preference shift attempt. The three groups are, first, right hand writers who report a rightward shift (successfully shifted left-handers); second, left hand writers who report a rightward shift attempt (unsuccessfully shifted left-handers); and, finally, left hand writers who do not report a rightward shift attempt. The underlying mechanisms that determine the success or failure of a handwriting shift attempt remain unclear. The present study examined the history of attempts to switch the preferred writing hand in a sample of 1277 adults aged 65 to 100 years of age. Older adults are well suited to participate in such a study because pressure to switch hand preference was especially severe for those who grew up in the early part of the 20th century; reports of rightward shift attempts are more common in this age group than among younger adults. Our results suggest that the three groups of left-handers, distinguished by the presence or absence of a shift history report and writing hand side, can also be distinguished from each other on the basis of their overall lateral preference profiles (the sides of hand, foot, eye, and ear preferences). Left hand writers, with and without reports of a rightward shift history, showed stronger left side lateralisation patterns when compared to right hand writers who reported a rightward switch (the successfully shifted left-handers).

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“…In the early twentieth century, there were significant pressures to switch the writing hand from left to right in order to avoid religious and social stigmas associated with being left-handed [43,77,79,90]. It was believed that left-handed individuals were at a physical [15,36,37,79] and psychological [64] disadvantage compared to right handers. In addition to forced hand switching, there are inherent environmental constraints in which a left-handed individual is forced to adapt to living in a world designed for right handers [18,19,77].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Establishing Hand Preference: Why does it Matter?

Adamo

Taufiq

2011

Hand (New York, N,Y.)

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Hand preference has been associated with psychological and physical well-being, risk of injury, pathological irregularities, longevity, and cognitive function. To determine hand preference, individuals are often asked what hand they use to write with, or what hand is used more frequently in activities of daily living. However, relying only on one source of information may be misleading, given the strong evidence to support a disassociation between self-reported hand preference and outcomes of hand performance assessments. This brief communication is intended to highlight the various methods used to determine hand preference, to discuss the relationship between hand preference inventories and performance measures and to present some recent findings associated with hand preference and musculoskeletal disorders.

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Illness and accidental injury in young and older adult left‐ and right‐handers: Implications for genetic theories of hand preference

Cited by 20 publications

References 30 publications

More injuries in left‐footed individual lizards and Sphenodon

More injuries in left‐footed individual lizards and Sphenodon

Lateral preference patterns as possible correlates of successfully switched left hand writing: Data and a theory

Establishing Hand Preference: Why does it Matter?

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