Coping style and cortisol levels in infancy predict hair cortisol following new group formation in captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta)

Infant temperament predicted change in hair cortisol after new group formation. Emotional and active individuals had lower hair cortisol in the new group. Blood cortisol response to stressor in infancy predicted hair cortisol in the new group.Several temperament traits assessed during infancy predicted changes in hair cortisol concentrations following a new group formation of captive rhesus macaques. Individuals who as infants were more Active on Day 2 of BioBehavioral Assessment also had greater decreases in hair cortisol concentrations following a new group formation that took place months or years later. Social instability in primate groups has been used as a model to understand how social stress affects human populations. While it is well established that individual cercopithecines have different temperaments or personalities, little is known about how temperament mediates the experience of social instability in large, naturalistic groups. Here, we report findings from a study tracking a newly formed group of captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). We examine whether inter ‐individual differences in temperament during infancy affect physiological responses to new group formation years later, measured through hair cortisol 9 months after the group was formed. Our results show that early life measures of temperament characteristics predict later‐life hypothalamic‐ pituitary‐adrenal activity following new group formation, though not always in the directions we pred...
Source: American Journal of Primatology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research