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Table 1 Edinburgh Handedness Inventory data split by sample and sex

From: Prevalence and heritability of handedness in a Hong Kong Chinese twin and singleton sample

 

Item

Preference

Twins

Singletons

Total

Item

total

 

Male

Female

χ2(df = 2)

Male

Female

χ2(df = 2)

Twins

Singletons

χ2(df = 2)

 

r

Class

N = 187

N = 197

 

N = 220

N = 204

 

N = 384

N = 424

 
  

LH

13 (7.0%)

14 (7.1%)

 

16 (7.3%)

9 (4.4%)

 

27 (7.0%)

25 (5.9%)

 

1. Writing

.717

NP

4 (2.1%)

0 (0.0%)

4.26

3 (1.4%)

5 (2.5%)

2.17

4 (1.0%)

8 (1.9%)

1.37

  

RH

170 (90.9%)

183 (92.9%)

 

201 (91.4%)

190 (93.1%)

 

353 (91.9%)

391 (92.2%)

 
  

LH

15 (8.0%)

13 (6.6%)

 

16 (7.3%)

12 (5.9%)

 

28 (7.3%)

28 (6.6%)

 

2. Drawing

.718

NP

11 (5.9%)

8 (4.1%)

1.02

11 (5.0%)

17 (8.3%)

2.14

19 (4.9%)

28 (6.6%)

1.11

  

RH

161 (86.1%)

176 (89.3%)

 

193 (87.7%)

175 (85.8%)

 

337 (87.8%)

368 (86.8%)

 
  

LH

16 (8.6%)

20 (10.2%)

 

30 (13.6%)

13 (6.4%)

 

36 (9.4%)

43 (10.1%)

 

3. Throwing

.427

NP

65 (34.8%)

69 (35.0%)

0.32

99 (45.0%)

83 (40.7%)

8.99*

134 (34.9%)

182 (42.9%)

6.49*

  

RH

106 (56.7%)

108 (54.8%)

 

91 (41.4%)

108 (52.9%)

 

214 (55.7%)

199 (46.9%)

 
  

LH

16 (8.6%)

12 (6.1%)

 

23 (10.5%)

19 (9.3%)

 

28 (7.3%)

42 (9.9%)

 

4. Holding Scissors

.659

NP

25 (13.4%)

18 (9.1%)

2.86

43 (19.5%)

20 (9.8%)

8.57*

43 (11.2%)

63 (14.9%)

4.66

  

RH

146 (78.1%)

167 (84.8%)

 

154 (70.0%)

165 (80.9%)

 

313 (81.5%)

319 (75.2%)

 
  

LH

16 (8.6%)

12 (6.1%)

 

26 (11.8%)

12 (5.9%)

 

28 (7.3%)

38 (9.0%)

 

5. Brushing Teeth

.585

NP

44 (23.5%)

49 (24.9%)

0.89

57 (25.9%)

47 (23.0%)

5.75

93 (24.2%)

104 (24.5%)

0.81

  

RH

127 (67.9%)

136 (69.0%)

 

137 (62.3%)

145 (71.1%)

 

263 (68.5%)

282 (66.5%)

 
  

LH

11 (5.9%)

14 (7.1%)

 

20 (9.1%)

14 (6.9%)

 

25 (6.5%)

34 (8.0%)

 

6. Chopsticks

.689

NP

8 (4.3%)

2 (1.0%)

4.19

9 (4.1%)

8 (3.9%)

0.73

10 (2.6%)

17 (4.0%)

2.01

  

RH

168 (89.8%)

181 (91.9%)

 

191 (86.8%)

182 (89.2%)

 

349 (90.9%)

373 (88.0%)

 
  

LH

15 (8.4%)

17 (9.0%)

 

20 (9.1%)

12 (5.9%)

 

32 (8.7%)

32 (7.5%)

 

7. Spoon

.559

NP

41 (23.0%)

34 (18.1%)

1.38

57 (25.9%)

66 (32.4%)

3.13

75 (20.5%)

123 (29.0%)

7.61*

  

RH

122 (68.5%)

137 (72.9%)

 

143 (65.0%)

126 (61.8%)

 

259 (70.8%)

269 (63.4%)

 
  

LH

17 (9.6%)

18 (9.6%)

 

26 (11.9%)

32 (15.8%)

4.53

35 (9.6%)

58 (13.8%)

 

8. Knife without fork

.520

NP

24 (13.6%)

14 (8.0%)

3.02

45 (20.5%)

27 (13.4%)

 

39 (10.7%)

72 (17.1%)

11.57**

  

RH

136 (76.8%)

155 (82.4%)

 

148 (67.6%)

143 (70.8%)

 

291 (79.7%)

291 (69.1%)

 
  

LH

30 (16.9%)

26 (13.9%)

 

40 (18.2%)

30 (14.7%)

 

56 (15.3%)

70 (16.5%)

 

9. Broom

.362

NP

49 (27.5%)

42 (22.5%)

2.44

61 (27.7%)

51 (25.0%)

1.79

91 (24.9%)

112 (26.4%)

0.57

(Upper hand)

 

RH

99 (55.6%)

119 (63.6%)

 

119 (54.1%)

123 (60.3%)

 

218 (59.7%)

242 (57.1%)

 
  

LR

11 (6.2%)

20 (10.7%)

 

20 (9.1%)

21 (10.3%)

 

31 (8.5%)

41 (9.7%)

 

10. Opening a box lid

.410

NP

78 (43.8%)

69 (36.9%)

3.38

116 (52.7%)

95 (46.6%)

1.61

147 (40.3%)

211 (49.8%)

9.10*

  

RH

89 (50.0%)

98 (52.4%)

 

84 (38.2%)

88 (43.1%)

 

187 (51.2%)

172 (40.6%)

 
  1. 1) Q6 ‘chopsticks’ is a modified item to replace ‘striking a match’ in the original Edinburgh Handedness Inventory
  2. 2) For each task responses were recoded into three categories: ‘LH’, ‘NP’, and ‘RH’, in which LH = Left-handed. NP=No preference, and RH = Right-handed
  3. 3) Due to time constraint, 26 twin children and 2 singletons did not respond to the handedness questionnaire but participated in other tasks
  4. 4) Group difference for each item was compared by the 3 × 2 χ2 test and the significance was marked by * p < .05, and ** p < .005. p = .005 is the significant level after Bonferroni correction for 10 comparisons