title: Hand preference survey of 5136 school children in Western Uganda.
abstract: Few handedness studies have been conducted with African populations. Our preliminary survey of 5136 primary school students from 16 schools in Western Uganda (age range: 4 to 19 years old) found that 4.8% (n = 248) wrote left-handed. Of the 248 left-handed writers, there were more males (57.3%, n = 141) than females (42.7%, n = 105). The average frequency of left-handed writing in males was 5.6%, while the average for females was 4%. Of the 24 primary school teachers we interviewed, half (n = 12) expressed no desire to have left-handed students switch to writing right-handed, and 29% (n = 7) advised left-handed students to write with their right hands, but did not insist upon their doing so. Only 17% (n = 4) could be described as strongly urging left-handed students to switch writing hands, with one comment (4%) not applicable. While handedness is not defined by a single manual activity (especially one sensitive to social pressure), this survey documents the incidence of left-handed writing among primary school children of Western Uganda.
authors.affiliation: Indiana University, Bloomington, USA.
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Holder
authors.forename: Deo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kateeba
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D012924:Social Conditions; D014454:Uganda