Birth Stress and Lateral Preferences

Cortex, Vol. 23, pp. 45-58, 1987

14 Pages Posted: 12 Jul 2010 Last revised: 27 Mar 2011

See all articles by Israel Nachshon

Israel Nachshon

Bar-Ilan, Department of Criminology

Deborah W. Denno

Fordham University School of Law

Date Written: 1987

Abstract

Conflicting evidence exists concerning the possible role of birth stress in the etiology of left-sided lateral preferences. In order to clarify this issue, associations among lateral preferences of hand, eye, and foot and eight indices of prenatal and perinatal stress were examined in the present study on a sample of 987 boys and girls who participated in the Philadelphia Collaborative Perinatal Project. Controls were instituted for some of the methodological and measurement problems encountered in past birth stress and laterality research. Results showed that subjects with different lateral preferences did not differ significantly in their distributions of all but one of the birth stress items. Hence, there was no substantial evidence for a link between birth stress and left-sided preferences. Alternative hypotheses for the etiology of left-sidedness should therefore be explored.

Keywords: left-hand, right-hand, left-foot, right-foot, left-eye, right-eye, prenatal, perinatal, birth stress, mental retardation, intelligence, birth weight, mother’s smoking, mother’s age, Apgar score, crime, criminality

Suggested Citation

Nachshon, Israel and Denno, Deborah W., Birth Stress and Lateral Preferences (1987). Cortex, Vol. 23, pp. 45-58, 1987, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1638931

Israel Nachshon

Bar-Ilan, Department of Criminology ( email )

Faculty of Law
Ramat Gan, 52900
Israel

Deborah W. Denno (Contact Author)

Fordham University School of Law ( email )

Fordham University School of Law
150 West 62nd Street
New York, NY 10023
United States
212-636-6868 (Phone)
212-636-6899 (Fax)

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