Turning around a vertical axis as a manifestation of human rotation and its relation to concepts of upper and lower limb preference, differences in relation to gender in adolescent population
Abstract
The current study was conducted in order to examine the structure and relation between rotation, item (turning around a vertical axis) and validated preference tasks for the evaluation of the concepts of handedness and footedness in the adolescent population. A total of 220 individuals from Prague high schools (males = 104, females = 116) in the 17–19 age range (mean age 18.1 years) participated.
Structural equation modelling, specifically MIMIC models, showed that turning behaviour has a significant regression relation to the concept of “lower limb preference” p < 0.001. Participants with a right foot preference had a tendency to do rotation on the left side, whereas participants who showed a left foot preference in the tasks tested had a tendency to rotate on the right side.
Moreover, in further processing of data by multigroup modelling it was found that the female population showed a slightly more stable preference of both locomotive organs than males, but a poor tendency in rotating. By contrast, the male population showed a significantly (p < 0.01) strong relation of lower limb preference and rotating around a vertical axis, in the sense of rotating on the opposite side than the preferred lower limb.
The limitations of the study and further suggestions are discussed.