Career choice and handedness: a survey among university applicants

By means of the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory the patterns of handedness were studied in 16,590 applicant students to several professional courses in a Brazilian university. The distributions of the laterality quotient (LQ) were different for male and female students, with more left-handers found among the males. The LQ's distributions were different for applicants to distinct courses or to blocks of related occupations. However, no differences were observed between left- and right-handers when each sex was studied separately. No statistically significant differences in handedness were found among the students of different courses that were accepted by the university.