title: Handedness and schizotypy in a Japanese sample: an association masked by cultural effects on hand usage.
abstract: Previous research has shown a robust association between schizotypy and mixed/ambiguous-handedness, but little is known about the universality of this relationship outside Western cultures. The present paper examines this issue in a sample of 413 Japanese students administered (in Japan) the Annett handedness questionnaire and a schizotypy scale (STA). Conventional analyses of current hand preference, using several indices derived from the Annett scale, mostly failed to replicate previous findings. However, there was a significant tendency for greater use of either hand in highly schizotypal males. Furthermore, a significant association between schizotypy and non-right-handedness was found--again only in males--after correcting for the effects of early switching of hand usage, presumed to be due to cultural pressure against left-handedness in Japanese society. These results were found to be highly convergent with findings previously reported for clinical schizophrenia.
authors: Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, PO Box 80, 111 Denmark Hill, De'Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK. spjgamg@iop.kcl.ac.uk
authors: Alice M
authors: AM
authors: Gregory
authors: Gordon
authors: G
authors: Claridge
authors: Ken
authors: K
authors: Clark
authors: Paul D
authors: PD
authors: Taylor
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D012569:Schizotypal Personality Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology*