Handedness in association with same-sex sexual attraction in Iran.

Previous research has shown that same-sex sexual orientation is associated with differences in handedness. This study investigated this relationship by comparing Iranian cisgender gynephilic males (n = 239), cisgender ambiphilic males (n = 108), cisgender androphilic males (n = 314), transgender androphilic males (n = 103), cisgender androphilic females (n = 250), cisgender ambiphilic females (n = 96), cisgender gynephilic females (n = 32), and transgender gynephilic females (n = 123). Using a modified version of Edinburgh Handedness Inventory, we compared laterality index scores, rates of non-right-handedness, and extreme right-handedness between groups. Also, two features of handedness including its direction (i.e., the dominant hand) and strength (i.e., the degree of variability in preferring one hand over the other) were explored. We found that compared to gynephilic males, cisgender ambiphilic males had elevated non-right-handedness, and cisgender and transgender androphilic males had elevated extreme right-handedness. Our results indicated that right-handed cisgender androphilic males and females had greater strength compared to right-handed cisgender gynephilic males, while right-handed cisgender ambiphilic females and transgender gynephilic females had weaker strength compared to right-handed cisgender androphilic females. This study highlighted the importance of studying handedness direction and strength to understand underlying developmental factors influencing sexual orientation.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Laterality

• Publication date

  2025-11-10

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1080/1357650X.2025.2584521PMID 41211853
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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