Children's, adolescents', and adults' reports of hand preference: Homogeneity and discriminating power of selected tasks

Abstract

A factor analysis, measures of internal consistency, and item analyses were conducted on the self-reported hand preference for the 15 activities recommended by Raczkowski, Kalat, and Nebes (1974) as reliable and valid indices of hand preference. Data from 1952 subjects, ranging in age from 8 to 70 years, were analyzed in toto as well as by age and sex. The factor analysis revealed the presence of only a single dimension. The internal consistency was uniformaly high for all age and sex cohorts (α ≥ .91). The item analyses showed that, in the aggregate, preference for hammering, drawing, and writing were the activities most strongly correlated with hand dominance determined on the basis of an unweighted composite of all the tasks. However, at ages 9 and 10, the hand used for hammering was not as strong an indicator of overall hand preference as writing and drawing. In contrast, with adult subjects (19 years and older), writing and drawing were slightly less satisfactory measures of overall manual preference, while use of hammer retained its high predictive value.