Calligraphic Education during childhood and its long-term effect on the adult handwriting

Background: Handwriting is an essential part of human communication. Its successful development is decisive for its personal and academic future. One of its most important components is the grip of the pen, of which there are 5 standard variants. The correct calligraphic education has a very important role in the generation of writing habits and a better legibility. Methods: In a cross-sectional study of correlation between variables, the aim was to correlate calligraphic education with many variables. The data was collected with a survey and a calligraphic test. Results: The sample consisted of 80 subjects between the ages of 18-30. No statistically significant correlation was found between legibility and years of calligraphic education, gender, age, dominant hand, GPA and preferred font. The only significant correlation was found between legibility and the use of one standard grips of the pen and an alternative (p=0.01). Discussion: 77.5% of the subjects had good legibility in the calligraphic test and no correlation was found between legibility and most of the variables on the study. However, the association between legibility and the use of the standard grips was found, in comparison with people that do not use one of those grips. Conclusions: Handwriting legibility is a multi-factor influenced skill, and calligraphic education during childhood is decisive to develop it properly. Nevertheless, the study showed no association between the length of the education and legibility, and a correlation between the use of an alternative pen grip and a worse result in the calligraphic test

Educación caligráfica durante la infancia y su efecto a largo plazo en la escritura en la vida adulta

Background: Handwriting is an essential part of human communication. Its successful development is decisive for its personal and academic future. One of the most important components is the grip of the pen, which there are 5 standard variants. Calligraphic education has a very important role in the generation of writing habits and a better legibility. Methods: In a cross-sectional study of correlation between variables, the aim was to correlate calligraphic education with many variables. The data was collected with an electronic questionnaire and a calligraphic test. Results: The sample consisted of 120 subjects between the ages of 18-30. No statistically significant correlation was found between legibility and years of calligraphic education, gender, age, dominant hand, GPA and preferred font. The only significant correlation was found between legibility and the use of one standard grips of the pen and an alternative (p=0.01). Discussion: 77.5% of the subjects had a high average in the calligraphic test and no correlation was found between legibility and length of calligraphic education in childhood, gender, age, dominant hand, writing tool, font and GPA. However, a significant association between legibility and the use of the standard grips was found, in comparison with people that do not use one of those grips (p=0.01). Conclusions: Handwriting legibility is a multi-factor influenced skill, and calligraphic education during childhood is decisive to develop it properly. Nevertheless, the study showed no association between the length of the education and legibility, and a correlation was found between the use of an alternative pen grip and a worse result in the calligraphic test.Antecedentes: La escritura es una parte esencial de la comunicación. Uno de los componentes más importantes es la prehensión fina, es decir el agarre de la pluma, de la cual existen cinco variantes. Reconociendo que la educación tiene un rol importante en la generación de buenos hábitos de escritura para un mejor producto: la legibilidad. Metodología: Se realizó un estudio transversal de correlación. Se usaron dos métodos de recolección de información: cuestionario electrónico y prueba caligráfica. Resultados: Se reclutaron 120 sujetos, con edades entre 18 y 30 años. No se encontró relación significativa entre la legibilidad del texto con la duración de la educación caligráfica, el sexo, la edad, la mano preferente, el promedio ni tipo de letra. Se encontró relación significativa entre la comparación de los agarresestandarizados con el agarre alterno respecto a su legibilidad (p=0.01). Discusión: El 77.5% de la muestra obtuvo un promedio alto en la prueba caligráfica; sin embargo, no se encontró relación estadísticamente significativa con la duración de la educación caligráfica en la infancia, la legibilidad según sexo y edad, mano preferente, instrumento, tipo de letra y promedio académico. La única asociación significativa (p=0.01) fue entre legibilidad en agarre estandarizado con el alterno. Conclusión: La legibilidad de la caligrafía es multifactorial, con peso principal en la educación caligráfica infantil. Sin embargo, se comprobó que la duración de esta educación no es significativa para la legibilidad. Igualmente, el uso de un agarre alterno a las cinco variantes se asocia con peores resultados en la prueba caligráfica