Citation

Conti G, Hansman C, Heckman JJ, Novak MFX, Ruggiero A, Suomi SJ. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 2012; 109(23): 8866-8871.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, National Academy of Sciences)

DOI

10.1073/pnas.1205340109

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper exploits a unique ongoing experiment to analyze the effects of early rearing conditions on physical and mental health in a sample of rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). We analyze the health records of 231 monkeys that were randomly allocated at birth across three rearing conditions: mother rearing, peer rearing, and surrogate peer rearing. We show that the lack of a secure attachment relationship in the early years engendered by adverse rearing conditions has detrimental long-term effects on health that are not compensated for by a normal social environment later in life.

Language: en