The Development Of Maternal And Infant Behavior In The Rhesus Monkey

Author : Jessica Jean Vandeleest
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781267029850
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (298 download)

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Download or read book Birth Timing Effects on the Qualities of the Mother-infant Relationship and Infant Behavior and Physiology in Rhesus Monkeys (Macaca Mulatta) written by Jessica Jean Vandeleest and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The current dissertation explores the influence of birth timing, a relative measure of the timing of births within a season, on the mother-infant relationship and infant behavior and physiology across the first year of life. This research was based on the hypothesis that mothers that give birth early in the birth season have a longer period of time in which to wean their infants than do mothers that give birth late in the season. Due to these different constraints on maternal time and resources I predicted that the relationships between early born infants and their mothers, and late born infants and their mothers would differ in important ways, and that these differences would have consequences for infant development. In the first study I observed patterns of mother-infant interactions and infant behavior in 33 rhesus monkeys during weaning and maternal breeding to a) determine if birth timing predicted changes to the mother-infant relationship and infant behavior from weaning through maternal breeding, and b) identify predictors of infant behavior during a period of acute challenge, maternal breeding. The second study extended those findings to examine if variation in the mother-infant relationship due to birth timing was associated with infant behavior and physiology during weaning in 40 rhesus monkey infants. The final study examined the role of temperature in the association between birth timing and HPA axis activity and regulation in 338 3-4 month old rhesus monkeys. Results from the first study suggest that birth timing influences the patterns of mother-infant interactions, and that infant social engagement and affect expression may be influenced by different factors. Results from the second study indicate that the influence of birth timing on the mother-infant relationship may have consequences for infant coping and physiology. Finally, results from the third study suggest that birth timing may be a complex measure that reflects multiple aspects of the early environment. Altogether this program of research supports my hypothesis that, in seasonally breeding species like the rhesus monkey, birth timing may have important influences on the mother-infant relationship and infant development.