Relationships between digit ratio (2D:4D) and female competitive rowing performance

Abstract

Females with smaller 2D:4Ds rowed substantially faster than females with larger 2D:4Ds, with the 2D:4D possibly linked to underlying characteristics that have been optimized over time resulting in better rowing performance.

Digit ratio (2D:4D) and physical fitness (Eurofit test battery) in school children

“…Descriptive statistics were calculated using Microsoft Excel (2007) and the statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS (v. 19) software. Normality of the data was checked and Pearson's correlation and standardised linear regression coefficients were used to investigate relationships between 2D:4D and the health and fitness scores.…”

“…A lower 2D:4D has been reported to be related to high achievements in the following: men's professional football, [1] and in a range of men's sports, [1] female athletic ability, [16] endurance running times for men and women [17], slalom skiing times for men and women [18], and rowing times for women [19] .…”

Why is digit ratio correlated to sports performance?

“…Significant negative correlations were observed between 2,000 m ergometer performance (rowing) and male digit ratios (Longman et al, 2011). Females with smaller digit ratios also rowed substantially faster than females with larger digit ratios (Hull et al, 2015). Low digit ratio is implicated in high sprinting speed, endurance and hand grip strength in boys (Ranson et al, 2015).…”

“…To date, a lot of researches showed negative relationships between digit ratio and sports performance such as rugby, surfing, rowing, sprinting, endurance, and hand grip strength (Bennett et al, 2010; Hönekopp and Schuster, 2010; Hull et al, 2015; Kilduff et al, 2011; Longman et al, 2011; Manning and Hill, 2009; Manning et al, 2007; Ranson et al, 2015). For example, low right digit ratio is a predictor of high rugby performance (Bennett et al, 2010).…”

Relationships between the digit ratio (2D:4D) and game‐related statistics in professional and semi‐professional male basketball players

“…2D:4D has consistently been shown to be a negative correlate of sports performance, athletic performance and physical fitness; individuals with low 2D:4Ds are more likely to perform better than individuals with high 2D:4Ds (Dyer, Short, Short, Manning & Tomkinson, ; Frick, Hull, Manning & Tomkinson, ; Hönekopp & Schuster, ; Hull, Schranz, Manning & Tomkinson, ; Manning & Taylor, ; Tomkinson & Tomkinson, ). This relationship was first demonstrated in English professional football (soccer) players by Manning and Taylor () and subsequently across a range of sports including (but not limited to) American football (gridiron) (Schorer, Rienhoff, Westphal & Baker, ), basketball (Dyer et al, ; Frick et al, ), cross‐country running (Manning, Morris & Caswell, ), fencing (Voracek, Reimer & Dressler, ), handball (Baker et al, ), kabaddi (an Indian contact sport) (Sudhakar, Majumdar, Umesh & Panda, ), rowing (Hull et al, ), rugby (Bennett, Manning, Cook & Kilduff, ), sprinting (Manning & Hill, ), slalom skiing (Manning, ), sumo wrestling (Tamiya, Lee & Ohtake, ), surfing (Kilduff, Cook & Manning, ), swimming (Perciavalle, Corrado, Scuto, Perciavalle, & Coco, ), tennis (Hsu et al, ), and volleyball (Panda, Majumdar, Umesh & Sudhakar, ).…”