Handedness and accidents with injury.
As evidence for the hypothesis on the claim of reduced longevity for left-handers, Coren in 1989 reported data which suggested that left-handers were 1.89 times more likely to report injuries which required medical attention. This left-handed group included both left- and mixed-handed individuals. To clarify the results of his study, we repeated in part Coren's study but defined handedness so that groups of right-, mixed-, and left-handed individuals were considered. In contrast to Coren's data, we found that right- and left-handers did not differ significantly in the frequency with which they reported having experienced accidents with injury and that mixed-handers reported being significantly more likely to have had an injury-accident than either right- or left-handers. These data underscore the need to consider mixed-handedness as a separate group in studies of this type.
Hicks
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RA
Department of Psychology, San Jose State University, CA 95192-0189.
Pass
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Freeman
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H
Bautista
J
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Johnson
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C
D000057:Accident Proneness; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*