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- Title
Sexual orientation and handedness in men and women: a meta-analysis.
- Authors
Lalumière, M L; Blanchard, R; Zucker, K J
- Abstract
Recent findings suggest that sexual orientation has an early neurodevelopmental basis. Handedness, a behavioral marker of early neurodevelopment, has been associated with sexual orientation in some studies but not in others. The authors conducted a meta-analysis of 20 studies that compared the rates of non-right-handedness in 6,987 homosexual (6,182 men and 805 women) and 16,423 heterosexual (14,808 men and 1,615 women) participants. Homosexual participants had 39% greater odds of being non-right-handed. The corresponding values for homosexual men (20 contrasts) and women (9 contrasts) were 34% and 91%, respectively. The results support the notion that sexual orientation in some men and women has an early neurodevelopmental basis, but the factors responsible for the handedness-sexual orientation association require elucidation. The authors discuss 3 possibilities: cerebral laterality and prenatal exposure to sex hormones, maternal immunological reactions to the fetus, and developmental instability.
- Publication
Psychological bulletin, 2000, Vol 126, Issue 4, p575
- ISSN
0033-2909
- Publication type
Journal Article
- DOI
10.1037/0033-2909.126.4.575