title: Handedness, sexual orientation, and gender-related personality traits in men and women.
abstract: This study assessed large numbers of heterosexual and homosexual men and women on handedness and gender-related personality traits. Initial analyses employed a dichotomous measure of handedness (right-handed vs. non-right-handed). For men and women combined, homosexual participants had 50% greater odds of being non-right-handed than heterosexual participants, a statistically significant difference. Homosexual men had 82% greater odds of being non-right-handed than heterosexual men, a statistically significant difference, whereas homosexual women had 22% greater odds of being non-right-handed than heterosexual women, a nonsignificant difference. When participants were classified into five graduated categories of handedness, both men and women showed significant homosexual-heterosexual differences in handedness distributions. Within groups, handedness showed a number of weak but statistically significant associations with sex-typed occupational preferences, self-ascribed masculinity, and self-ascribed femininity, but not with instrumentality or expressiveness. Rates of non-right-handedness were virtually identical for heterosexual men and women, suggesting that sex differences in handedness may result from higher rates of homosexuality in men.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, California State University, Fullerton, California 92834, USA. rlippa@fullerton.edu
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Lippa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D002140:California; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D020010:Heterosexuality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018452:Homosexuality, Female / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011606:Psychosexual Development; D012737:Sex Factors; D019529:Sexuality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires