The relationship between handedness and academic achievement in high school students of Sanandaj City, Iran

BACKGROUND: Academic achievement is considered as one of the main results of the educational system and focusing on factors affecting it is of great importance. The present study was performed with the aim to determine the relationship between handedness and academic achievement in high school students in Sanandaj City, Iran, in 2016. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study the population of which included the high school students of Sanandaj and 2630 pupils were selected from among them. The study tool was the Annette's questionnaire. To measure the academic achievement, the average score of the first semester of the 2016-2017 school year of the students was used. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS software and descriptive and statistical tests such as the Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests. RESULTS: Among the samples, 7.7%, 87.4%, 4.9% were left handed, right handed, and of no handedness, respectively. The average score of handedness in the school children was 16.75 ± 11.99 out of 24. There was no relationship between academic achievement and handedness (P = 0.105). CONCLUSION: The results suggested that other factors than handedness affect the success and academic achievement of the students.