title: Breastfeeding predicts handedness.
abstract: This study examined whether being breastfed predicts handedness. Two large representative samples from Britain (n=13,421) and Ireland (n=8,426) were used. Multivariate probit models are estimated, reporting the marginal effects of covariates on the probability of a child being right-handed. For both datasets, children who have been breastfed for a minimum period (between 1 month and 6 weeks) are significantly less likely to be left-handed. The results are robust to a variety of controls. Hence breastfeeding is an environmental factor that predicts handedness in a non-linear way, although the mechanism is unknown.
authors.affiliation: School of Economics, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland. Kevin.denny@ucd.ie
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Denny
mesh_terms: D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D008297:Male; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics