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.

KEYWORDS:

• Social adjustment
• handedness
• laterality
• semi-parametric regression

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Nuala Brady and a referee for comments. The first named author acknowledges the hospitality of the Laboratoire d’économie moderne (University of Paris II) and the Economics Department, University of Kentucky. The research was funded under the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions at the Geary Institute for Public Policy, UCD.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.