Headaches, Performance in High School, and Handedness

Abstract

Students who had headaches or who had missed high school because of headaches were no more likely than their peers to have low scores on the Gates-MacGinitie tests of Vocabulary and Comprehension. This does not support the hypothesis that children with severe headaches are more likely than their peers to have trouble with school work. Students who identified themselves as ambidextrous were at approximately 50% greater risk than right-handers and left-handers of experiencing headaches. This can be viewed as providing some support for the Geschwind-Behan hypotheses that migraine and handedness are not independent phenomena.