A COMPARISON OF HAND PREFERENCE IN JAPAN AND CANADA

An analysis was performed on 47 items of a hand preference inventory a dministered to 1275 undergraduate students in Japan and Canada. Factor analysis indicated that items grouped into three factors, representin g skilled activities, unskilled activities, and turning movements. Ana lysis of the factor scores revealed that neither skilled handedness no r unskilled handedness was significantly influenced by cultural group or sex. On the third factor, Japanese students were far more right-han ded than were Canadian students. Although mean factor scores for skill ed handedness did not differ between groups, the prevalence of left-ha ndedness was significantly lower in Japan than in Canada. Cultural pre ssures have their primary effect on turning movements, and on specific skilled activities such as writing and eating. Although the data are consistent with the view that a right shift for skilled activities has been superimposed on an undifferentiated handedness, other considerat ions make such a theory less tenable.