title: Relationship between handedness and persistent emotional distress in adults experiencing an earthquake.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Post-traumatic emotional distress follows exposure to trauma and may be affected by atypical cerebral lateralisation. We aimed to explore the relationship between handedness and emotional dysfunction in people exposed to a nat-ural disaster.
  
  
  METHODS
  About 22 months after an earthquake, 326 exposed adults completed the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory, the Impact of Events Scale-Revised, and the Insomnia Severity Index.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mixed-handed people, compared to right-handed, had a 3.3 fold increase in odds to have emotional distress. Consistent left-handers scored higher than consistent right- and mixed-handers on the ISI scale.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings support that lateral preference is associated with emotion-al distress in people exposed to trauma.
authors.affiliation: European University of Rome, Rome, Italy. b.farina@ccds.it
authors.forename: Benedetto
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Farina
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mazzotti
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Farina
authors.forename: Giacomo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Della Marca
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Savoja
authors.forename: Giorgio D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Kotzalidis
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Campanile
authors.forename: Claude Moussa
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Chemtob
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: di Giannantonio
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tatarelli
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D055866:Earthquakes; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult