Document Detail


Nature's experiment? Handedness and early childhood development.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  21305394     Owner:  NLM     Status:  In-Data-Review    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
In recent years, a large body of research has investigated the various factors affecting child development and the consequent impact of child development on future educational and labor market outcomes. In this article, we contribute to this literature by investigating the effect of handedness on child development. This is an important issue given that around 10% of the world's population is left-handed and given recent research demonstrating that child development strongly affects adult outcomes. Using a large, nationally representative sample of young children, we find that the probability of a child being left-handed is not significantly related to child health at birth, family composition, parental employment, or household income. We also find robust evidence that left-handed (and mixed-handed) children perform significantly worse in nearly all measures of development than right-handed children, with the relative disadvantage being larger for boys than girls. Importantly, these differentials cannot be explained by different socioeconomic characteristics of the household, parental attitudes, or investments in learning resources.
Authors:
David W Johnston; Michael E R Nicholls; Manisha Shah; Michael A Shields
Related Documents :
6650274 - Chronic illness in adolescents: a sociological perspective.
21327974 - Perceptions of prominent neighborhood individuals regarding neighborhood factors and in...
12703414 - Hovering between suffering and enduring: the meaning of living with serious chronic ill...
9250344 - Relation of parental affective illness to family, dyadic, and individual functioning: a...
17669444 - The intentional network: how the brain reads varieties of intentions.
6650274 - Chronic illness in adolescents: a sociological perspective.
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Demography     Volume:  46     ISSN:  0070-3370     ISO Abbreviation:  Demography     Publication Date:  2009 May 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2011-02-09     Completed Date:  -     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  0226703     Medline TA:  Demography     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  281-301     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology, Australia.
Export Citation:
APA/MLA Format     Download EndNote     Download BibTex
MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


Previous Document:  Parental imprisonment, the prison boom, and the concentration of childhood disadvantage.
Next Document:  Is the relationship between socioeconomic status and health stronger for older children in developin...