The Effects of Hand Preference on Measures of Psychological Well-Being in a Sample of Older Adults in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Background: Generally, being left-handed has been linked to poorer mental health and quality of life. However, given that few studies have investigated these links in Saudi Arabia and that the prevalence of mental illness in the general population is rising, it is important to explore whether left-handedness can be considered a risk factor in a sizable, general population. Aim: To investigate whether left-handers experience psychological well-being or good quality of life. Methods: A cross-sectional study among adults in Saudi Arabia was conducted from March 6, 2022 to February 27, 2023. Results: The study included (N = 2862) respondents who met the inclusion criteria, with an average age of 28.95 years. Left-handed individuals made up 31.7%, whereas right-handed individuals made up 60.3%, and ambidextrous individuals made up 7.9% of the population. Using the Mental Health Quality of Life questionnaire (MHQoL-7D) scoring manual, the quality of life for both left-and right-handers was evaluated. Those who were right-handed had a higher quality of life than those who were left-handed. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was conducted, and the findings showed that neither the left-handed nor the right-handed group significantly differed in their levels of poor quality of life or psychological well-being. Conclusion: Using the left or the right hand had no effect on one’s quality of life or degree of well-being. Further studies with a larger sample size are needed to examine this result in more detail.