Handedness and Accidents with Injury

Abstract

As evidence for the hypothesis on the claim of reduced longevity for left-handers, Coren in 1989 reported data which suggested that left-handers were 1.89 times more likely to report injuries which required medical attention. This left-handed group included both left- and mixed-handed individuals. To clarify the results of his study, we repeated in part Coren's study but defined handedness so that groups of right-, mixed-, and left-handed individuals were considered. In contrast to Coren's data, we found that right- and left-handers did not differ significantly in the frequency with which they reported having experienced accidents with injury and that mixed-handers reported being significantly more likely to have had an injury-accident than either right- or left-handers. These data underscore the need to consider mixed-handedness as a separate group in studies of this type.