Our Wimpy Handshakes

We now have proof-positive that we are losing our grip: a study of American “millennials” – people aged 20 to 34 – shows we have significantly weaker hand strength than we had in 1985.

The research was done by a team at Winston-Salem State University and published by the Journal of Hand Therapy.

The study gathered 237 volunteers who then had their way with a hand dynamometer – a joystick-like device used to measure hand, wrist and overall arm strength. The results were then compared to the data from a similar study done 30 years ago.

The results are startling, and more than a little depressing. Back then, men in their early 20s had an average right-handed grip of 121 pounds and a left-handed grip of 105. Today, men that same age average grips of only 101 and 99 pounds. That's right: the average left-handed grip of a young man in 1985 is stronger than the right-handed grip of a millennial today!

Women have also grown wimpier, but not by so marked a margin. Today's modern young lady has a right-handed grip of 60 pounds, roughly 10 pounds less than her leg-warmers-wearing counterparts.

We still have enough hand strength left to point fingers, apparently, and the blame for our delicate digits is being levied at technology.

“Work patterns have changed dramatically since 1985, when the first norms were established. As a society, we’re no longer agricultural or manufacturing,” Elizabeth Fain, an occupational therapist and lead author of the study, told NPR. “What we’re doing more now is technology-related, especially for millennials.”

And that may be bad news for young job seekers. Although our lower arm strength may have devolved to something just good enough for the new digital economy, the expectations of hiring managers are still firmly rooted in the early Industrial Age. Research from the University of Iowa shows that a weak handshake in a job interview is a non-starter.

"We've always heard that interviewers make up their mind about a person in the first two or three minutes of an interview, no matter how long the interview lasts," said University of Iowa business professor Greg Stewart. "We found that the first impression begins with a handshake that sets the tone for the rest of the interview."

The researchers found that those students who scored high with the handshake raters were also considered to be the most hireable by the interviewers.