title: In praise of ambidexterity: How a continuum of handedness predicts social adjustment.
abstract: This paper estimates the relationship between handedness and social adjustment in children. In addition to binary measures of hand preference, we also use a continuous measure of relative hand skill. Outcomes at ages 7, 11 and 16 are studied. The data used is the British 1958 Birth. Using a partially linear semi-parametric regression estimator, it is shown that non-right-handedness (as hand preference) is associated with poorer social adjustment but this effect weakens as individuals age into their teens. The continuous measure of hand skill has a non-monotonic effect on social adjustment with poorer social adjustment in the tails of the continuum. The results are consistent with a growing body of evidence which shows that it is the consistency or degree of laterality (rather than direction) that is important for many outcomes.
authors.affiliation: a School of Economics , University College Dublin , Dublin , Republic of Ireland.|b Geary Institute for Public Policy , University College Dublin , Dublin , Republic of Ireland.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Denny
authors.affiliation: b Geary Institute for Public Policy , University College Dublin , Dublin , Republic of Ireland.
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D002666:Psychology, Child; D012917:Social Adjustment; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Social adjustment; handedness; laterality; semi-parametric regression