Handedness in boys with gender identity disorder

Handedness preference was assessed in 205 boys with gender identity disorde r and 205 clinical control boys referred for other reasons. Boys with gende r identity disorder were significantly more likely to be left-handed than t he clinical control boys (19.5 % vs. 8.3 %, respectively). The boys with ge nder identity disorder, but not the clinical control boys, also had a signi ficantly higher rate of left-handedness compared to three independent, gene ral population studies of nonreferred boys (11.8 %; N = 14,253) by Hardyck, Goldman, and Petrinovich (1975), Calnan and Richardson (1976), and Eaton, Chipper-field, Ritchot, and Kostiuk (1996). Left-handedness appears to be a behavioral marker of an underlying neurobiological process associated with gender identity disorder in boys.