From: dsegelho@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Diane Segelhorst)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Survey results:thumb sucking and handedness
Date: 23 Nov 92 20:18:32 GMT
Reply-To: dsegelho@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Diane Segelhorst)
Organization: Annapolis Detachment, CDNSWC


Hi everybody!  Sorry it has taken so long for me to post the results
of my survey on thumbsucking and handedness.  I got 32 responses, some
covering more than one person, for a total sample size of 46.  I've
broken down the statistics in a few different ways.

Sucked thumb or finger on dominant hand:  31
"                   " NON dominant hand:  15

Of 32 righties, 20 sucked thumb or finger on dominant hand, and 12 sucked
on non-dominant hand
Of 11 lefties, 10 sucked thumb or finger on dominant hand, and 1 sucked
on non-dominant hand

Dominant hand
-------------
19 righties sucked right thumb
1 rightie sucked fingers on right hand
8 lefties sucked left thumb
2 lefties sucked fingers on left hand
1 unspecified sucked dominant thumb

Non Dominant hand
-----------------
8 righties sucked left thumb
4 righties sucked fingers on left hand
1 lefty sucked right thumb
2 unspecified sucked non-dominant thumb

Following are some fun stories people sent:
-------
I sucked my thumb until I was 10 (only in bed). I have very little concept of
right and left, so I couldnt remember which one I sucked. I figured it out
by putting my right thumb in, and then my left. The right is a better fit,
so it was clearly my right hand. I am right handed. I am glad no one came
into my office while I was checking that!
------
	As a child I sucked my right thumb, which is my dominate arm.  I
stopped sucking this thumb when my mother dipped it in chinese hot
mustard while sleeping one evening.  Not one of the most pleasent
memories of childhood, but it worked.  
------
Lately, he's taken to sharing his thumb with me :-) if I will let
him suck my thumb.  He especially likes to do this shared thumb
sucking when we're in the car (that is, if my husband is driving and
I'm sitting in the back seat with Dylan!).  I sometimes wonder what
other drivers must think we're doing!
------
My daughter (now right-handed) used to suck her right thumb.  One day,
she noticed the callous on her thumb and get very upset.  ``Boo boo!
Boo boo!''  I explained to her what caused it.  She thought about for a
bit -- and then started sucking her left thumb.  Since no callous
appeared immediately, she continued to suck that thumb, and never went
back to her right thummb.

A year or so later, she noticed the callous that had grown on her left
thumb.  We had a similar conversation, modulo her improved verbal
skills.  She thought about it -- and stopped sucking her thumb that
day, and never started agin.

Yes, she's still a very determined sort of small person...
----- 
  I,  on the other hand, am embarassed to admit, sucked
my thumb until I was 9 yrs old.  ( To be fair, I think the fact that
my father died when I was 6 had something to do with it.)  It was
my right thumb.  I am left-handed.   My mother tried everything to
get me to stop, even painting my thumb with horrible tasting stuff.
(I remember defiantly telling her it tasted good.  NO ONE was
going to tell ME, what I should or shouldn't do!)  I finially decided
on my own, at 9 yrs I was too much a big girl to be thumb sucking.
Since I only did it a night, I broke myself of the habit by  
tucking my hand underneath my pillow.  I recall that it only took a
few weeks to stop.  
--------
Melanie, at 2yrs+  is a non-dominant thumb sucker.  Her right(dominant)
hand is for blankie.  It's amazing what a correlation there is between
her holding blankie and sucking her thumb.  It seems automatic, grab
blankie, thumb goes in the mouth - and then usually right back out 
except at bedtime.  

One thing that might be easier for thumb suckers to learn -right vs left.
As in, where's you're left hand, the hand on which you suck your thumb :)
--------
My daughter is right handed and started out sucking her left thumb.
But after it was pinched in a lawn chair, she switched to her right 
thumb and has never gone back to her left thumb.  Really messed up her
learning right from left because she learned to distinguish them based
on which-thumb she sucked.  And then she switched thumbs.
-------
As is common, my dominant - right - hand is larger than my non-dominant hand.  
When I asked my Mother about the difference in size, she explained that the 
sucking was making my left hand shrink.  I stopped sucking immediately.

(Note - I am not recommending this method.  I don't get along particularly well
with my Mother and her creative use of the truth is one of the reasons.)
-------
Tristan, my two year old, is a thumb sucker.  Has been since before
birth.  (The sonogram shows him sucking his thumb - I think the right).
-------
My 2yo tried
it a few times (each thumb).  She studied her thumb, put it in her 
mouth, sucked, pulled it out, gave a look of digust, looked at me and 
said, "Yucky Mommy".  That was the end of her thumb sucking!
----------
I sucked my left thumb as a kid and am left handed.  The right
thumb just didn't taste the same...
--------
One of my sisters sucked
her non-dominant thumb, but her dominant hand was rubbing a ponytail right up
on top of her head.  (Yes, it looked kinda strange, but it evidently gave her
so much comfort that her hair was arranged that way for years, but not into
kindergaten.)  
--------




Diane Segelhorst
dsegelho@oasys.dt.navy.mil