title: Is handedness related to anxiety? New answers to an old question.
abstract: Is handedness related to anxiety? Two separable dimensions of handedness have been considered in previous studies: Direction of the preferred hand (left or right) and the consistency with which the preferred hand is used over the nonpreferred hand (consistent or inconsistent). Findings have included (1) left-handedness being associated with greater anxiety than right-handedness, (2) consistent-handedness being associated with greater anxiety than inconsistent-handedness and (3) neither dimension being associated with anxiety. Here, we administered measures of trait anxiety, state anxiety and worry to individuals classified as consistent-left, inconsistent-left, inconsistent-right or consistent-right. Neither direction nor consistency had a main effect on any measure. However, there was a direction by consistency interaction in trait and state anxiety measured on the State/Trait Anxiety Inventory. Among right-handers, inconsistent individuals reported less anxiety than consistent individuals. Among left-handers, consistency was unrelated to anxiety. In consequence of this pattern, inconsistent right-handers were less anxious than inconsistent left-handers. Hence, supporting prior studies, left-handedness was associated with greater anxiety than right-handedness (but only among inconsistent individuals) and consistency was associated with greater anxiety than inconsistency (but only among right-handers). These findings advance our understanding of handedness consistency as an important individual difference factor in personality and cognition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, USA. keith.lyle@louisville.edu
authors.forename: Keith B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Lyle
authors.forename: L Kevin
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Chapman
authors.forename: Jessica M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Hatton
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001007:Anxiety / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult