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The relationship of perinatal birth status to handedness: A prospective study
Author(s) -
Fox Nathan A.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
infant mental health journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1097-0355
pISSN - 0163-9641
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0355(198523)6:3<175::aid-imhj2280060308>3.0.co;2-0
Subject(s) - asphyxia , medicine , respiratory distress , incidence (geometry) , pediatrics , premature birth , full term , longitudinal study , perinatal asphyxia , prospective cohort study , psychology , gestational age , obstetrics , developmental psychology , pregnancy , anesthesia , surgery , physics , pathology , biology , optics , genetics
As part of a longitudinal study of the consequences of high risk birth, 66 infants born to right‐handed parents were given two unimanual tasks at 24 months of age to assess their hand preference. The 66 infants had been assigned to one of four diagnostic categories at birth: Premature with no postnatal medical complications; premature and having experienced respiratory distress; term and having experienced birth asphyxia during labor and delivery; term with normal delivery and postnatal course. Results of the handedness tasks revealed an increased incidence of use of the left hand among the term infants who underwent birth asphyxia and among the healthy preterm infants. The data indicate that timing of birth stress may play an important role in the ontogeny of pathological left‐handedness.