Lateral preferences and their assessment in school-aged children

W. van der Elst*, C.J.C. Meijs, P.P.M. Hurks, R. Wassenberg, M.P.J. van Boxtel, J. Jolles

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

A behaviour-based lateral preference instrument (the Lateral Preferences Questionnaire; LPQ; Van Strien, 1992, 2001) was administered to a large sample of school-aged children. The aims of the present study were twofold: (i) to evaluate the factor structure and the psychometric properties of the LPQ, and (ii) to evaluate the effects of age, gender, and mean level of parental education on lateral preferences and lateral consistency. Two factor models had an excellent fit with the data. In the first model the LPQ items were considered to be indicators of four different lateral preference factors (the hand, foot, eye, and ear preference factors). In the second model the LPQ items were considered to be indicators of four lateral preference factors, which were in turn expected to load on a single underlying general lateral preference factor. The psychometric properties of the derived hand and eye preference scales of the LPQ were good to excellent, and the psychometric properties of the foot and ear preference scales were acceptable. Lateral preferences and lateral consistency were not affected by age, gender, or mean level of parental education.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)207-226
JournalLaterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition
Volume16
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2011

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