title: Degree, but not direction of grip strength asymmetries, is related to depression and anxiety in an elderly population.
abstract: Despite the abundance of studies on asymmetries in manual laterality, a marker for atypical brain lateralization in depression and anxiety, findings in this area are mixed. Traditionally, research have looked at individual differences in depression and anxiety as a function of the direction of asymmetry. However, recent research has emphasized on studying the degree of asymmetry in addition to its direction. To these ends, the present study aims to unravel the associations between the degree and direction of manual lateralization, and depression/anxiety. Cognitively healthy elderlies (N = 326, 91 males, Mage= 68) were administered grip strength assessments on both hands and self-report measures of depression and anxiety. Partial correlation analyses controlling for age, education and sex revealed significant positive associations between degree of lateralization and anxiety in the overall sample and among right-dominant participants, as well as a significant positive relationship between degree of lateralization and depression among right-dominant participants. None of the correlations involving the direction of lateralization yielded significance, neither was there significant differences between left- and right-dominant participants on depression and anxiety scores. These findings suggest that the degree of manual lateralization, but not direction, is related to depression and anxiety at least among right-dominant individuals.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychological Medicine , National University Hospital , Singapore.
authors.forename: Junhong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychological Medicine , National University Hospital , Singapore.
authors.forename: Iris
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rawtaer
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychological Medicine , National University Hospital , Singapore.|b Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine , National University of Singapore , Singapore.
authors.forename: Rathi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mahendran
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychological Medicine , National University Hospital , Singapore.|b Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine , National University of Singapore , Singapore.
authors.forename: Ee-Heok
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Kua
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine , National University of Singapore , Singapore.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Feng
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006225:Hand / Q000503:physiopathology; D018737:Hand Strength; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D053581:Muscle Strength Dynamometer; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012737:Sex Factors; D012846:Singapore / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Consistency; anxiety; depression; direction; lateralization